After a declining trend seen after 2020-21, the pandemic year, the number of subsidized LPG refills and new bottles availed by the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has started increasing again.
According to official data, the per capita consumption of LPG by Ujjwala beneficiaries has improved to 3.95 refills per year in 2023-24 against 3.71 refills in 2022-23. However, this is still lower than 4.4 refills recorded in the financial year 2020-21 when the government provided up to three refills free of cost in the light of Covid-19 pandemic.
As of July 1, 103.3 million PMUY connections have been released across the country, minister of state of petroleum and natural gas Suresh Gopi informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday. LPG coverage in the country has improved from 62% in April 2016 to near saturation now, according to the government.
“Further, OMCs (oil marketing companies) are continuously commissioning new LPG distributorships, especially in rural areas. Since the launch of the PMUY scheme, OMCs have commissioned 7,905 distributorships across the country, out of which 7,325 (i.e. 93 %) are catering to rural areas,” Gopi said.
The government had launched the scheme back in 2016 with an aim to provide cooking fuel to poor households while discouraging the use of traditional kitchen fuels including cow dung cakes and firewood which are more polluting. The target to release 80 million connections was achieved in 2019.
The government now expects to extend the benefit to 103.5 million households under the scheme by 2025-26.
Last year in August, the government had announced a price cut of Rs 200 per cylinder in LPG prices for all domestic consumers and decided to expand the scheme with additional 7.5 million connections. In October 2023, the government again hiked the subsidy for PMUY consumers by Rs 100 taking it to Rs 300 per cylinder. In March this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a cut of Rs 100 per LPG cylinder while encouraging the use of LPG cylinders.
India imports over 60% of its domestic LPG consumption. In the first quarter of the current fiscal 2024-25, the country imported 4.56 million tonnes of LPG. Domestic production during the quarter stood at 3.2 million tonnes. Presently, there are 326.8 total active LPG customers in the country.
Total subsidy given on LPG by the government in the present fiscal stands at Rs 11,925.01 crore against Rs 12,240.0 crore as per revised estimates of FY24. This subsidy, in FY23, stood at Rs 6,817.37 crore. The subsidy amount includes the expenditure on connections given under PMUY.
In its manifesto for general elections, the Narendra Modi government stated that it will extend PNG connections across the country while expanding the LPG connections under the Ujjwala Yojana. The move is expected to aid in realising the government’s target of increasing the share of natural gas in the energy mix from the present 6.8% to 15% by 2030.