Oil and Natural Gas Corp's fuel subsidy burden for the current year will be significantly lower than the previous year, if the crude prices stay around the current level, Chairman and Managing Director R. S. Sharma said on a TV channel on Thursday. "If the prices remain around $70 a barrel, surely the subsidy burden is going to be less," Sharma said when asked if the recent fuel price hike would help ease the company's subsidy burden.

India unexpectedly raised gasoline and diesel prices by as much as 10 per cent on Wednesday, its first increase this year, passing some of oil's rally into an economy just beginning to find its feet amid a global recession.

India's government-controlled fuel pricing regime forces state-run producers such as ONGC to partially subsidise state oil marketing companies to sell products at low prices to consumers.