STEPPING ON THE GAS

The petroleum ministry has sought additional budgetary support of ~4,800 crore for adding another 30 million customers to its scheme for providing cooking gas to the poor, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).

The ministry wants to revise the target of providing 50 million gas connections in the PMUY in three years, for which the government has allocated ~8,000 crore, to 80 million. The government pays ~1,600 for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections to families below the poverty line in this scheme.

“The petroleum ministry and oil companies have asked for an additional budgetary support of ~4,800 crore. The companies expect to achieve 80 million connections under the PMUY in four years,” said an industry source.

The government has so far provided 22.1 million LPG connections in 694 districts through this scheme.

The government’s push for In the last three years, India added 61 million new LPG connections, including 22 million PMUY connections Under the scheme, the government support comes to the tune of ~1,600 for each family For every 10-million connections, India needs investments worth ~10,000 crore on LPG infrastructure The government has set a target of achieving about 95 per cent LPG penetration by 2020, from the current level of 72% cleaner cooking gas is likely to make India a net importer of LPG during 2017-18.

“During the previous financial year, India’s LPG consumption rose by 10 per cent to 21.55 million tonnes, of which 11 million tonnes were imported. With the government set to add another 20 million connections, apart from growth in normal connections, the demand will rise further,” the source said.

The addition of 30 million connections is likely to bring in ~30,000 crore of investment in LPG infrastructure. Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan recently said for every 10 million connections, India needed investments worth ~10,000 crore in LPG infrastructure.

This is part of the road map to achieve 95 per cent LPG penetration by 2020, from the current level of 72 per cent. The PMUY was launched on May 1, 2016, in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia district. The scheme has played a big role in recent electoral victories for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha and Maharashtra.

The government has in the last three years provided 61 million new LPG connections, including 22 million PMUY connections. This is a big step up from the 140 million connections the country had when the National Democratic Alliance came to power.