The price of petrol would have gone up by more than Rs 7.50 a litre across the country. The increase, the steepest-ever, came a day after Parliament's budget session ended and PM Manmohan Singh talked about the need for "difficult decisions".

after adding state taxes, petrol will cost Rs 81.44 a litre in Hyderabad, Rs 73.18 in Delhi, Rs 78.57 in Mumbai, Rs 77.88 in Kolkata and Rs 77.53 a litre in Chennai. This marks an increase of around 10% and puts a squeeze of roughly Rs 6,000 a year on a family that spends an average of Rs 5,000 per month on petrol.