India's state-owned oil companies held petrol and diesel prices flat through the assembly election season — absorbing ~₹1,000 crore per day in losses — then issued four price hikes in ten days, sixteen days after the last vote was counted. The government attributes this to global oil markets, which are evidently synchronized with Indian election calendars.
Petrol crossed ₹100 per litre in Delhi and ₹111 in Mumbai in May 2026, following India's first fuel price hikes in roughly four years. State-run oil companies, which had kept prices flat through the assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Assam, acknowledged absorbing roughly ₹1,000 crore per day in losses during the freeze. The hikes began sixteen days after results were declared. Rahul Gandhi dubbed Prime Minister Modi Inflation Man Modi. The NCP (SP) called it an inflation tax and accused the government of openly looting the common man while protecting corporate interests. Congress alleged that Modi kept prices artificially low to protect votes, then passed the accumulated losses to consumers in four instalments. The Ministry of Petroleum noted that global oil markets — not election calendars — drive fuel pricing decisions in India, and that the timing was purely coincidental.