Fuel price rise could not have stoked March inflation, say experts

Price rise in fuels will only reflect in April numbers

This may come as a surprise to many. Retail price inflation in petrol was the lowest at 10.21 per cent in March since November 2020. In diesel, it scraped the bottom of the barrel at 5.19 per cent in the last month of 2021-22 since February 2020. Even liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was at a nine-month low of 9.97 per cent in the month.

Yet fuels were held responsible for the 17-month high Consumer Price Index-based inflation rate of 6.95 per cent in March.

Although price rise in fuels was effected from March 22 after a gap of over four months