The image produced its small effect. Ripun Bora, Congress Party (opposition) MP elected from Assam state in northeast India arrived in Parliament on a bicycle on July 29. An unusual practice in a country where the very hot and very humid climate generally dissuades users of two-wheelers. Mr. Bora wanted to denounce in front of the television cameras the unprecedented rise in fuel prices since the spring.
“The government does not allow us to discuss issues such as the sky-high price of gasoline. It only remains for us to demonstrate “, he declared, the bust covered with a poster denouncing the great return of inflation. As soon as the regional elections passed in Assam, but also in West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, in early May, the liter at the pump, until then maintained at a stable level by the government of Narendra Modi, s’ is set to increase in worrying proportions, to the point of crossing the psychological bar of 100 rupees (1.14 euros).
The price of gasoline is 32.9% higher and diesel 31.5% higher than in August 2020
A price inaccessible to the vast majority of Indians, more than two-thirds of the population (68.8%) having to live on a daily basis on less than 2 dollars (1.70 euros), for a minimum wage set at 176 rupees per day . Since then, the situation has not improved, dissuading the most disadvantaged drivers from refueling. Friday, August 6, a liter of gasoline was sold at 101.9 rupees per liter in the capital, Delhi, and proved to be even more expensive in other large metropolises: 102.5 rupees in Chennai (ex-Madras), 105, 3 rupees in Bangalore and 107.9 rupees in Bombay, the commercial capital.
Oil demand has certainly increased on the world market, after a slowdown in 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But, as the daily highlights Indian Express, “It is the taxes of the central state and the federated states which are the main reason for the increase”. The price of gasoline is 32.9% higher and that of diesel 31.5% higher than in August 2020. In Delhi, taxes represent nearly 56% of the price at the pump of the gasoline and a little over 50% of the price of diesel.
“A very alarming situation”
While some states, such as Rajasthan, West Bengal or Assam, have banned themselves from increasing regional taxes in 2020, so as not to worsen the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus, the federal state headed by the government Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi raised excise duties on gasoline from 13 rupees per liter and on diesel by around 16 rupees per liter, to limit the drop in revenues and the soaring public deficit.
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