Centre justifies LPG price hike

THe regime on sun justified nurture liquified rock oil gas (LPG or cooking gas) prices by ₹29 per 14.2kg cylinder to ₹942 on the ground that state-run oil companies are still losing ₹700 on each refill and that the fuel is still cheaper in India than in Pakistan and Bangladesh.Public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) late on Saturday raised domestic LPG prices across the country for the second time since the war in West Asia broke out on February 28, which led to major global supply-side disruptions. Including the increase of ₹60 per 14.2kg cylinder on March 7, total hikes in cooking gas prices now stand at ₹89.OMCs on March 7 raised the price of of 14.2kg domestic LPG cylinders supplied to general households from ₹853 to ₹913, and on June 7 to ₹942. The latest hike takes cooking gas prices to their highest level since August 30, 2023. The government, however, subsidises cooking gas by ₹300 per 14.2kg cylinder for up to nine refills a year to nearly 100 million poor households under the Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).Stating that the government continues to modulate the effective price paid by consumers, the petroleum ministry said: “A PMUY beneficiary will additionally receive the direct benefit transfer of ₹300 a cylinder on the first four refills each year — broadly the average annual consumption of a typical Ujjwala household, about four refills a year — and so pays an effective ₹642 on those refills; this support is unchanged.”It is, however, unclear whether the government has officially reduced the number of subsidized cylinders available to poor household from nine to four annually in the current financial year. A clarification from the petroleum ministry’s spokespersons was still awaited. The Union Cabinet on August 8, 2025 approved a subsidy of ₹300 per 14.2kg cylinder for up to nine refills a year (and proportionately pro-rated for 5kg cylinder) for PMUY beneficiaries during 2025-26.The ministry’s statement said Indian household continue to buy cooking gas at prices lower than those prevailing in neighbouring countries and advanced economies. According to the ministry, the equivalent price of a 14.2kg LPG cylinder is ₹1,046 in Pakistan, ₹1,225 in Bangladesh, ₹1,755 in the US, ₹1,765 in Australia and ₹2,411 in Canada.“A PMUY beneficiary pays an effective ₹642 for a 14.2kg cylinder, and the general consumer in Delhi ₹942, against a cost to supply that has now risen to over ₹1,600,” the ministry said. “Even a non-PMUY household would pay about ₹700 below the market-linked cost of the cylinder. Retail prices differ marginally across locations on account of distribution costs,” it added.