The Rs 933 hike in commercial LPG prices has come as a shocker for both small eateries and prominent restaurants with owners in Mumbai mulling a five to 20% hike in prices of menu items, and at least one of them expressing fears that the move would result in closures and job losses. “Nobody expected Rs 993,” said Pranav Rungta, Vice President of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI). “This is the highest ever increase. It is unfortunate, but nothing can be done about it — it is all tied to the geopolitical situation. The government is absorbing the cost attached to domestic supply and passing it down to commercial establishments.” The hike has come as a double whammy for restaurants still navigating the aftershocks of a cylinder shortage that had already forced shortened menus and alternative fuels. “It’s a new shock every day,” said Kaustubh Tambe of Aram Vada Pav, CSMT, who runs his kitchen on a mix of induction and gas.…