A significant increase in Ujjwala LPG sales—103.3 million in FY24

Based on statistics from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, the government’s flagship Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has enabled 103.3 million families to benefit from clean cooking fuel between the program’s inception and the end of 2023–2024.

Furthermore, the state-owned oil marketing businesses sold 26.21 million tonnes of domestic liquified petroleum gas (LPG) in 2023–24, an increase from 25.38 million tonnes in 2022–23.

Since the introduction of the Ujjwala system in 2014, LPG has grown significantly. The program’s widespread distribution accounts for the increase in consumption from 29 million tons. “People are finding the benefits and comforts satisfactory,” said an unidentified member of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board.

By 2025–2026, the government currently projects that 103.5 million families would get the benefit from the program.

The government started the program back in 2016 with the intention of giving cooking fuel to low-income families and discouraging the use of more polluting traditional kitchen fuels like firewood and cow dung cakes.

In August of the previous year, the government decided to add 7.5 million more connections to the LPG program and announced a price drop of Rs 200 per cylinder for all domestic users. The government increased the PMUY consumer subsidy by Rs 100 in October 2023, making it Rs 300 per cylinder. Prime Minister Narendra Modi promoted the usage of LPG cylinders in March of this year by announcing a reduction of Rs 100 per cylinder.

With a rise in LPG usage of 3.8% annually to 29.6 million tonnes in FY24 as evidence of the Ujjwala scheme’s effectiveness, the government is now concentrating on expanding the use of piped natural gas (PNG) across the nation.

The Narendra Modi administration said in its campaign for the general elections that it will increase LPG connections via the Ujjwala Yojana and PNG connections nationwide. The action is anticipated to help achieve the government’s goal of raising natural gas’s share of the energy mix from its current 6.8% to 15% by 2030.

As of February, there were 12.56 million residential PNG connections in the nation, according to PPAC statistics. Based on the minimum work program objectives of the city gas distribution firms, the government has further targeted 125 million PNG connections by 2030, including both rural and urban regions. This information was shared with the Parliament last year.

Based on the statistics, the states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh had the fewest PNG connections—just 48 families in the whole area had access to piped gas. There were no PNG connections at all in up to six areas. The areas covered include Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra & Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Telangana and Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir.

The PNGRB member said, “PNG is facing some challenges because they need to replace LPG, and LPG is already subsidized.” Connecting all locations to PNG makes sense if it is feasible and they are utilizing domestic gas. However, this isn’t occurring since consumers feel safe using LPG as a substitute.

Speaking about the Board’s efforts to enhance PNG adoption nationwide, the member said that PNG and its advantages are being promoted.

“Organizations using LPG are unable to take advantage of PNG. However, we are arguing that this should be done,” the representative said. “The government does not need to give the kind of subsidy (like on LPG) if PNG is directly transported to homes, so the subsidy burden will get reduced.”