NEW DELHI — Protests against a recent increase in fuel prices shut down markets, schools, airports and businesses across India on Monday, and thousands of people were arrested as violence flared in some cities.

The effect of the demonstrations — spearheaded by political parties that oppose the governing coalition led by the Indian National Congress — far exceeded expectations, although no official estimates of crowds were immediately available. The vocal and sizable opposition to higher fuel prices may indicate that the Congress party, elected by more votes than forecast last year, is losing some support, said political analysts and people affected by the strike.

“This will create some sense of fear in the government,” predicted Vikas Sharma, 35, the owner of a cloth shop in Old Delhi, who was sitting idly outside his store. The “government will be forced to take some steps,” he said.

As it moved to eliminate subsidies on petroleum products, the Congress government said June 25 it would raise the price of gasoline by 3.5 rupees, or 7.5 cents, a liter. Diesel is being raised by 2 rupees a liter, and kerosene, which makes up a large portion of expenses for poor people, by 3 rupees.

India’s state-run fuel companies must sell oil and natural gas at government-set rates and will lose 530 billion rupees this fiscal year, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said last month. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Sunday that the fuel price increases would not be rolled back, regardless of the scope of the protests Monday.

The Congress government is paring market controls that keep prices of some goods artificially low in India. At the same time, it is investing in employment programs.

“The main thing they are trying to do is move away from subsidies to spend on development,” Nikhilesh Bhattacharyya, an economist for Moody’s economy.com. “It is a slow process, a very slow process,” he said.

Opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P., and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), say the reforms are misguided and harmful to the average citizen.

“Wrong economic policies and bad governance is the basic reason for the price rise,” said Nitin Gadkari, president of the B.J.P., which is the Congress party’s main rival.

The prime minister, Mr. Gadkari added, is “more worried about the financial condition of oil companies than the condition of poor people.”

Fear of violence or transportation snarls kept some of India’s largest companies closed Monday, including the information technology giants Wipro and Infosys in Bangalore. Airports in Calcutta and Chennai were paralyzed, and taxis stayed off the streets in major cities.

The strike cost India’s economy about 30 billion rupees, the Confederation of Indian Industry said. “The worst affected are daily wage earners and people dependent on small trade,” the trade group said.

About 1,000 people gathered at Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi’s main commercial hub, to protest the price increases and listen to speeches by opposition politicians.

Protesters carried three effigies of paper and sticks, with heads of demons. They yelled, “Sheila Dikshit, down, down” naming the chief minister of the capital region, who is a member of the Congress party, before setting fire to the figures.

“Inflation deflates the hopes of the common man, down with price rises,” read one signboard at the protest. “The poor man’s plate is empty and the government is clapping,” read another.

Many of the country’s citizens are not feeling the benefits of India’s fast-paced economic growth, which is expected to top 8 percent this year. India’s wholesale price index, a measure of inflation, rose 10.16 percent in May from a year before.

Inflation is driving up food prices, but salaries of low- and middle-income workers have not risen significantly, making basic commodities like lentils and milk much more expensive. Laborers on construction and road projects in New Delhi, for example, can be paid as little as 150 rupees a day, while a kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, of the most commonly eaten lentils costs as much as 70 rupees.

Poor monsoon rains in recent years mean that farmers, who make up more than half of India’s workers, have suffered. “It is a very poor country, and that growth isn’t really broad-based,” Mr. Bhattacharyya said. For the average farmer, 8 percent growth “doesn’t mean much,” he said.

The strike also caused problems for poor people. “We are the worst victims of the price rise, and we suffer in the closure as well,” said Kishen Dev, a 35-year-old day laborer who was sitting on road in Chandni Chowk. Mr. Dev said he was a father of four who generally earned 125 to 150 rupees a day, but on Monday he made nothing.

In Mumbai, the country’s financial capital, normally chock-a-block main roads were empty because most stores and offices were closed.

Buses and commuter trains were running much less frequently than usual after protesters attacked some buses and blocked train tracks. Taxi drivers kept their cars off the road, making it hard for people without vehicles to move around the city.

On a main thoroughfare in central Mumbai, stores and banks were closed, though automatic teller machines were still operational. The country’s two main stock exchanges were open but trading was very light.


Vikas Bajaj contributed from Mumbai.