The number of beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), who opted for three or more refills of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), declined by one crore on an annual basis in the last fiscal.

PMUY beneficiaries choosing three or more LPG refills fell by 17 per cent y-o-y to around 4.99 crore in FY22 as compared with around 5.99 crore in FY21, the Parliament was informed on Thursday.

However, the per capita consumption of PMUY beneficiaries has been consistently rising and has increased from 3.01 refills in FY20 to 3.68 in FY22, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas Rameshwar Teli said in a written reply to a query in Lok Sabha. The number of PMUY beneficiaries opting for three or more LPG refills in FY22 was higher by 45 per cent as compared with 3.45 crore in FY20, the data provided by the Minister showed.

“Consumption of domestic LPG by households depends on several factors like food habits, household size, cooking habits, price, availability of alternate fuels etc,” Teli informed the lower house.

LPG prices are based on Saudi Contract Prices (CP) which has risen from $236 per tonne in April 2020 to $750 in June 2022, a rise of 218 per cent. However, government continues to modulate the effective price to consumers for domestic LPG. At present a 14.2 kg LPG cylinder costs ₹1,053 in Delhi.

Fewer refills

Even as the number of PMUY beneficiaries taking more than two LPG refills fell in FY22, the beneficiaries opting for a single refill more than doubled in the last fiscal as compared with FY21. Similarly, beneficiaries taking two refills was higher by 20 per cent y-o-y during the same review period.

Around 1.62 crore PMUY beneficiaries opted for a single refill in FY22, against a mere 0.67 crore refills in FY21, and 1.83 crore LPG refills in FY20.

Likewise, about 1.49 crore PMUY beneficiaries chose two refills of LPG in FY22, compared with 1.24 crore and 1.31 crore beneficiaries in FY21 and FY20, respectively.

Govt’s efforts

“The government has taken several steps to encourage consumption of LPG by PMUY beneficiaries, which include subsidy of ₹200 per 14.2 kg refill upto 12 refills a year for PMUY beneficiaries for FY23, option of 5 kg double bottle connection (DBC), swap option from 14.2 kg to 5 kg, up to 3 free refills to PMUY beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package from April to December 2020 etc,” Teli said.

In FY21, the government had provided upto 3 LPG refills for free to PMUY beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP). Under this scheme, 14.17 crore free refills were provided to beneficiaries, resulting in an increase in consumption of LPG by PMUY beneficiaries during FY21.