Price of LPG Cylinders Hiked by Over 40% Since July 2020, Centre Tells Rajya Sabha

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Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said the prices of petroleum products in the country are linked to the price of respective products in the international market.

The retail selling price of LPG cylinders in Delhi has increased by more than 40 percent in the last one year, the Union government data presented in Rajya Sabha showed. The 14.2 kg cylinder was costing Rs 594 in Delhi on July 1, 2020, which has shot upto Rs 834.50, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas informed the Upper House.

Since May last year, there had been a consistent rise in the price of the cylinders, barring one incident, the data analysed by CNN-News18 showed. On May 1, 2020, the price of 14.2 kg cylinder was Rs 581.5. Further, between January 1 and July 9 this year, the price of the LPG cylinders in the national capital has increased five times while it has dropped only once.

The ministry said the prices of petroleum products in the country are linked to the price of respective products in the international market. It added that the prices of LPG in the country are based on Saudi Contract Price (CP), the benchmark for international prices of LPG. During October, 2020, and April, 2021, the Saudi CP has increased from 359 USD to 607 USD.

India imports more than 55 percent of its LPG requirement. Also, domestic LPG is under the ambit of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) at 5 percent.

The data also shows that the refills sold to the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has increased by more than 50 percent. In 2019-20, 23.04 crore refills were sold to the PMUY beneficiaries, that increased to 35.44 crore in the last financial year. This year between April and June, 7.32 crore refills were sold. The PMUY was launched in May 2016.

Further, the Ministry said that the average consumption of PMUY beneficiaries in 2020-21 has increased by 44 percent compared to 2019-20.

The ministry data also showed that there has been a consistent increase in the active domestic customers across India. As of July 1, 2021, there are 29.11 crore active domestic LPG consumers, including the PMUY customers. In 2018-19, the country had 26.54 crore customers.