Just a day after the Budget 2013-14, which is dubbed as too costly for the middle class, the oil companies came up with another shocker by hiking the petrol prices by Rs 1.40 per litre with effective from midnight today.

This is the second hike in petrol prices in over two weeks. Earlier on February 15, the petrol prices were hiked by Rs 1.50 per litre, while diesel prices shot up by 45 paise a litre.

The actual hike would be more if we add the local sales tax or value added tax (VAT) to the hike of Rs 1.50. The oil companies attributed the fuel price hike to the rising global oil prices.