Petrol may rise Rs 5/litre, diesel by Rs 3

NEW DELHI: Get ready to pay more for fuels shortly. The hike is likely to kick in soon after Parliament's budget session ends on May 22.

In a clear indication of the inevitable, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday warned of "disastrous consequences" if "corrective steps" were not taken to deal with the problem of high oil prices and seemingly endless subsidy.

"Petroleum prices are increasing by leaps and bounds. We cannot keep them under any carpet. If we do not take corrective measures, we will have to face disastrous consequences," he told the Rajya Sabha but tempered.

But he also promised to temper the shock of any oil price hike by saying the entire burden would not be passed on to consumers. "I cannot entirely pass on the extra burden to the consumers.... Apart from his or her suffering individually, it will have its inflationary impact. That is also an issue which we shall have to address."