India, May 2 -- In a cramped rented room in northwest Delhi's Prem Nagar, 25-year-old painter Chandan Poddar is doing the math again. He earns Rs.18,000 a month and shares aliving space with nine other migrant workers. Together, they spend close to Rs.3,000 on a 5-kg LPG cylinders and it lasts them about 10 days. Now, with the price of the small cylinder being raised by nearly Rs.300, the financials no longer make sense.

On Friday, high international energy prices amid the West Asia crisis led to a steep 47.8% increase in the price of the commercial liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) used by industries and migrant labourers from Rs.2,078.50 per 19 kg cylinder to Rs.3,071.50, industry executives said. The price of a 5kg free trade LPG (FTL) wo...