Overview
- The 19-kg cylinder rate rose by about Rs 993 on Friday, lifting prices above Rs 3,000 in major cities after smaller hikes in March and April.
- Restaurants, bakeries and small eateries warn they will raise menu prices or cut jobs because fuel now takes a bigger bite out of operating costs.
- Hotel and restaurant bodies are urging the Centre to cut GST on commercial LPG to 5% from 18% to blunt the surge that businesses say they cannot absorb.
- Shortages and delivery snags have pushed some operators to buy cylinders on the black market at far higher rates or switch to wood and induction cooking.
- The government has kept household LPG prices unchanged, and industry groups link the commercial spike to West Asia tensions that have strained LPG flows through the Strait of Hormuz, with protests and a Kerala strike set for May 6.