Mumbai sweltered through another hot, humid Thursday with the India Meteorological Department forecasting peak temperatures near 42°C across the western suburbs and humidity holding above 60 per cent. Delhi, by contrast, recorded brief relief overnight from a thunderstorm and hail, but the rest of the major Indian metros — Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata — continue to log readings several degrees above their May normals.
The BMC has extended its hot-weather advisory, urging outdoor workers to avoid midday hours and opening additional cooling centres in low-income wards. School-day timings in several aided institutions have been shifted earlier in the morning. Mumbai's 108 emergency service has logged a roughly 18 per cent rise in heat-stress callouts since May 7, mostly in Mahim, Sion and Kurla.
Gold rates surged after the central government raised the import duty on gold and silver to 15 per cent from 6 per cent, a measure ministry officials say is aimed at narrowing the current-account deficit and discouraging speculative imports. In Mumbai, 24-carat gold is now quoted at ₹16,201 per gram and 22-carat at ₹14,851; New Delhi rates are marginally higher. Industry bodies warned that the duty hike will push more of the trade into informal channels.
Fuel prices, unusually, were unchanged on Thursday despite the global rise in Brent. Mumbai petrol holds at ₹103.54 per litre and diesel at ₹90.03, with the state's VAT regime continuing to keep retail prices noticeably above Delhi's. Domestic LPG cylinder prices have stayed steady, but the 19-kg commercial cylinder has risen sharply, pinching restaurants.
Forecasters expect the heatwave to peak Saturday before the south-west monsoon's onset over Kerala — currently expected around June 1 — eventually breaks the pattern. Until then the BMC is urging residents to limit outdoor exposure and to keep stray and street animals supplied with water.