New Delhi: The price of domestic gas cylinders has almost doubled in the last eight years, according to the data shared by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Members of Parliament, Sanjay Jadhav and Arvind Ganpat Sawant asked pointed questions to the government:
1. Whether inflation has come down recently and if so, the reasons for the price hike of domestic gas cylinders and piped gas.
Responding to this question, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, provided the shocking data that showed the prices of LPG cylinders has almost doubled during the last eight years of Narendra Modi rule.
The data shared by the petroleum ministry showed Domestic LPG was selling at Rs.621/- per 14.2Kg cylinder in Delhi.
It however saw regular hike, ultimately becoming almost double and started selling at Rs.1,103/- per 14.2Kg cylinder in March 2023, the data shared by the petroleum ministry in the Lok Sabha Thursday said.
The prices of commercial gas cylinders and PNG too have reported hikes in the last eight years.
According to the Petroleum Ministry data, Commercial LPG at Delhi was selling at Rs. 1,142/- per 19Kg cylinder in Delhi.
The price of commercial gas cylinders rose to Rs.1,780 in July 2023.
Domestic Gas Price (PNG) was selling at Rs.25.50 per cubic meter in 2014. Its price however was Rs.53.59per cubic meter in 2022 but downed to Rs.48.59 in April 2023, the ministry said.
The government blamed the international market price for the regular hike in gas prices.
“India imports more than 60% of its domestic LPG consumption. Prices of LPG in the country are linked to its price in the international market. Prices of commercial LPG are set by LPG marketing companies independently”, the Ministry said. “During the period 2020-21 to 2022-23, the average Saudi CP (international benchmark for LPG pricing) went up from $415 per MT to $712 per MT. However, the increase in international prices was not fully passed on in retail prices, due to which the Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) suffered under recoveries of approximately Rs. 28,000 crore on sale of domestic LPG. To compensate this, the Government paid a one-time compensation of Rs. 22,000 crore to Public Sector OMCs in FY 2022-23”, the Ministry said.
“India imports more than 60% of its domestic LPG consumption. Prices of LPG in the country are linked to its price in the international market. Prices of commercial LPG are set by LPG marketing companies independently”, the Ministry said.
“During the period 2020-21 to 2022-23, the average Saudi CP (international benchmark for LPG pricing) went up from $415 per MT to $712 per MT. However, the increase in international prices was not fully passed on in retail prices, due to which the Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) suffered under recoveries of approximately Rs. 28,000 crore on sale of domestic LPG. To compensate this, the Government paid a one-time compensation of Rs. 22,000 crore to Public Sector OMCs in FY 2022-23”, the Ministry said.
The Narendra Modi government provided free gas connections under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) and also claimed to regularise cylinder prices by providing subsidies. However, reports on the ground show a number of users who got free gas connections are not able to refill because of the high cylinder costs.
For all the latest News, Opinions and Views, download ummid.com App.
Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
