India fuel hike lowest in world, highest prices seen in Congress-ruled and INDIA-bloc south

New Delhi, May 23 (IANS) The cumulative petrol and diesel revision of just under Rs 5 a litre in three days this month is the “smallest material upward movement” of any major economy outside the directly subsidising Gulf producers, and the states that tax fuel most heavily are governed by the political opposition, according to data.

For example, states with the highest pump prices concentrate in the Congress-ruled and INDIA-bloc south (Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu) and in a single NDA-allied outlier (Andhra Pradesh, where the TDP state government levies an exceptionally high VAT plus per-litre addition).

States with the lowest pump prices concentrate in the BJP-ruled north and west: Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Goa, Assam. Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are BJP-led but carry a higher VAT or recent cess.

Three states have petrol above Rs 112 a litre after the latest revisions are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala. Telangana and Kerala are governed by parties of the INDIA bloc. These three states levy the highest VAT rates in the country.

Andhra Pradesh charges 31 per cent VAT plus Rs 4 a litre plus a road development cess, taking the effective rate close to 35 per cent. Telangana takes petrol close to Rs 116. Kerala adds a social security cess on top of its base VAT.

Meanwhile, six states have petrol at or below Rs 102 a litre are Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Goa, and Assam. All six are governed by the BJP.

The same opposition leaderships that ask the central government to cut excise duty for the relief of the consumer have at no point cut the value added tax their own state governments levy on the same litre of fuel, according to sources.

When the central excise duty was cut on March 27, 2026, by 10 rupees a litre on petrol and diesel, the BJP-ruled states passed the full cut through to the pump.

The framing that the central government overtaxes fuel collapses against the state-level data. The states that tax fuel is hardest are not the Centre; they are the political opponents of the Centre.

At peak Brent of around $126 a barrel during the Hormuz disruption, the Government of India was absorbing approximately Rs 24 a litre on petrol and Rs 30 a litre on diesel.

Through the seventy-six days from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz on February 28 to the OMC revisions of 15, 19, and 23 May, India held petrol and diesel prices essentially unchanged while the rest of the world raised prices by 10, 20, 50, and in some cases 90 per cent.

–IANS

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