The recent sharp increase in diesel prices has imposed an additional burden of nearly ₹40 crore on Karnataka’s four State-run Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) within just ten days, State Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Reddy said that the continuous rise in fuel prices was worsening the financial health of the four RTCs in the State. “In the last few days, diesel prices have increased by ₹7.82 per litre. Due to the first three hikes alone, the four RTCs have already incurred an additional expenditure of around ₹25 crore. Since fuel prices have again been increased on Monday, the losses will further increase in the coming days,” he said.

He further said that the overall additional burden on the RTCs over the past ten days, till Monday, after the increase in fuel prices had reached nearly ₹40 crore. “If fuel prices continue to rise in the coming days, the burden on the transport corporations will become even more severe. On a monthly basis, the additional burden could touch around ₹480 crore,” Mr. Reddy added.

Despite the mounting losses, the Minister clarified that there was currently no proposal before the government to increase bus fares.

“There will be no bus fare hike as of now. Normally, the respective RTC takes a decision and sends a proposal to the board seeking approval for a fare revision. So far, no RTC has submitted any such proposal,” he said.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the fourth time in ten days on Monday (May 25, 2026), with fuel rates increasing by around ₹2.7 to ₹2.8 per litre across variants. In Bengaluru, petrol prices rose to ₹110.93 per litre from ₹108.09 (May 24), while diesel prices increased to ₹98.80 from ₹95.99 per litre.

According to senior transport department officials, fuel and employee expenses already account for a major share of RTC expenditure. “At present, 83.64% of the RTCs’ revenue is spent on crew salaries and diesel expenses. With diesel prices increasing continuously, the share of fuel expenditure in the overall revenue will rise further and put additional pressure on the corporations’ finances,” an official said.

Officials added that the four RTCs together consume around 1,638 kilolitres of diesel every day, making fuel price fluctuations a major concern for the public transport sector in the State.