Govt hikes LPG cylinder price by Rs 50 citing rising global gas costs
THE rise in global benchmark prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was cited by Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri as the reason for the government’s decision to raise the price of cylinders by Rs 50 for both subsidised and non-subsidised consumers.
He added that the revision is subject to periodic review, typically every 2–3 weeks.
Announced on Monday, the hike applies to both Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries from April 8 onwards.
Considering the current international benchmark of Saudi CP at higher levels, losses of approximately Rs 41,338 crore are expected to be incurred in LPG during FY25 by oil marketing companies (OMCs), Puri said. Petroleum Secretary Pankaj Jain said the government hopes to find ways to compensate the OMCs this amount during 2025–26.
While the average Saudi CP rose by 63 per cent to $629 per metric tonne between July 2023 and February 2025, the effective price for PMUY consumers was reduced by 44 per cent over the same period, Puri stressed.
Introduced back in May 2016 as a flagship scheme with the objective of making clean cooking fuel such as LPG available to rural and deprived households — which were otherwise using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, and cow-dung cakes — PMUY has won the current government support in large parts of rural India. It had 10.33 crore beneficiaries as of March.
India imports more than 60 per cent of its domestic LPG consumption. Domestic LPG prices are linked to international market prices. The government continues to modulate the effective price to consumers for domestic LPG. Between FY21 and FY23, the average Saudi CP price rose to $712 per metric tonne, from $415 per metric tonne, the government said.
“However, the increase in international prices was not fully passed on to customers. This resulted in public sector OMCs incurring Rs 28,000 crore loss due to under-recoveries. Subsequently, the government approved a one-time compensation of Rs 22,000 crore for OMCs to enable them to operate freely,” Puri said.
