Fund manager Kalyan Basu finds the stock market easier to handle than the marketplace these days.

Thursday’s fuel-price hike — petrol by Rs 4 a litre and diesel by Rs 2 — may have made balancing his household budget more difficult.

“The monthly expenditure on food and items of daily use for my family of six in July 2008 was Rs 12,500. Our monthly expenditure on the same items a year later is Rs 15,000. If I stick to last July’s budget, we would have to settle for barely 70 per cent of what we need,” Basu said.

Potato, a staple in almost every home, has become dearer by around Rs 11 in Calcutta over the past year and could become costlier in the next few weeks.

Onion, which was available for Rs 10 a kg a year ago, now costs Rs 15-17 depending on the quality of the produce.

“Potato and onion are brought to the city mostly by road; so the diesel price hike could push up the price by Rs 2 a kg unless supply exceeds demand,” a wholesaler said.

Anindya Sen, professor of economics at IIM Calcutta, warned that middle-class homes would have to stretch their budgets like never before. “A hike in the price of fuel directly affects consumers because of the increased cost of transport. Producers and distributors will pass on any increase in their costs to the consumer.”

Before the increase in the price of fuel, a dip in production and the vagaries of the weather pushed up prices of essential commodities despite inflation slipping into negative zone.

Dipankar Ghosh, an RBI officer, said he feared that prices would increase even faster than over the past year because of the delayed monsoon. “The trend started last year and it looks like the delayed monsoon will make things worse for us over the next few months.”

Basu said 2009 being a no-increment year for most was the unkindest cut of all. “Expenditure has risen but our incomes have either remained stagnant or declined because of pay cuts triggered by the global downturn. These are bad times,” the Salt Lake resident said.

For those who use public transport, there is more trouble ahead.

Private bus and taxi operators have already started demanding a hike in fares because of the increase in fuel price. Representatives of the main unions of bus, minibus and taxi operators said they had already taken it up with transport minister Subhas Chakraborty and that a “formal demand” could be made soon.

Traders said the fuel-price hike had left them with no option but to pass a part of the burden to the consumer. “Fruits and vegetables are already in short supply because of the extended summer and delayed monsoon. Prices could now hit the roof,” said Prabhat Kumar Das, a spokesman for the Federation of Traders’ Organisations.

“The UPA’s honeymoon with the electorate is probably over,” said a state government employee who did not wish to be named.

“I understand that the government has had to increase the prices of petrol and diesel because global crude prices have risen, but that understanding doesn’t ease the burden on my pocket.”

Basu, who admits he is “privileged” than most, said even the upper middle class was feeling “stretched”.

“Nobody — rich, middle class or poor — likes being forced to remove items from one’s consumption basket,” he added.