The price of compressed natural gas (CNG) has been hiked by Rs 1.75 per kg in the Capital with effect from midnight tonight, mainly on account of rupee depreciation against the dollar.
Indraprastha Gas Ltd, which sells CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households in Delhi and neighbouring towns, said the new prices would be effective from midnight tonight.
“The revision in prices would result in increase of Rs 1.75 per kg in the consumer price of CNG in Delhi and Rs 2.00 per kg in the consumer price of CNG in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad,” the company said in a press statement here.
The new consumer price in Delhi will be Rs 33.75 per kg, while it will be Rs 37.90 per kg in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad.
This is the fifth increase in CNG rates this year. IGL had last raised CNG prices in Delhi by Rs 2 per kg to Rs 32 per kg from October 1.
The IGL Managing Director, Mr M. Ravindran, said: “We have been forced to increase the retail price of CNG due to a major increase in the input cost of the entire pool of natural gas being sourced by us as a result of recent appreciation of the dollar vis-a-vis the rupee and the increased dependence on imported LNG.”
The hike was necessitated because IGL bought expensive imported LNG to make up for the stoppage of supplies from Reliance Industries’ eastern offshore KG-D6 gas field because of a fall in output.
In addition, rupee depreciation has made the raw material — that is, natural gas — even costlier. The rupee was hovering around Rs 49.50 per US dollar at the time of the last price hike, while today, it is about Rs 53 to a US dollar.