Massive hike in LPG price

New Delhi: A day after the poll process in Delhi concluded, the prices of the LPG cylinders were hiked by a steep Rs 144.50 per cylinder on Wednesday taking the price to Rs 858.50 per cylinder. This was one of the steepest increases in the LPG prices in over five years.

A non-subsidised 14.2 kg cylinder will now cost Rs 858.50 in New Delhi, Rs 896 in Kolkata, Rs 829.50 in Mumbai and Rs 881 in Chennai. Usually LPG prices are revised on the first of every month. However, amid Delhi elections, the process seems to have been deliberately delayed.

With the increase, the subsidy burden for the government will also jump by almost



100 per cent with the Centre deciding against revising the price of subsidised cooking gas cylinder provided to households and those receiving LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).

The price of subsidised LPG cylinder (14.2 kg) currently works to around Rs 557 with government providing Rs 157 as subsidy directly into the account of eligible consumers. With the revised prices, government’s subsidy under direct benefit transfer (DBT) to eligible consumers would increase to over Rs 300 per cylinder with the PMUY customers getting about Rs 312 into their accounts now.