Non-subsidised LPG consumption grows 35%

The growth is attributed to weeding out of fake and duplicate connections under the DBTL scheme

Consumption of non-subsidised cooking gas in India grew by a record 35.3 per cent during April-June quarter this year, due to the rollout of the government’s direct benefit transfer in liquefied petroleum gas (DBTL) scheme, which has weeded out fake and duplicate connections from the system.  The 35.3 per cent growth in April-June 2015 and 28.2 per cent in June is in stark contrast to the 11.9 per cent contraction in consumption observed in the corresponding period of 2014-15.

In its June report, the oil ministry’s technical arm Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) said: “The high growth in the current month (June) and quarter (April-June) is a result of the curb in diversion of subsidised domestic cylinders after implementation of DBTL.”

The government had rolled out DBTL, called Pratyaksh Hanstantrit Labh (PAHAL) scheme, in 52 districts in November 2014 and expanded its coverage to the entire nation in January. Under the programme, cooking gas subsidy is transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries, thereby plugging leakages. The government has so far managed to cover 130 million of the 150-million LPG consumers under the scheme.

According to the oil ministry, subsidised LPG usage has grown seven per cent in the current financial year till June. “Even after PAHAL has weeded out duplicate connections, domestic LPG usage is witnessing continuous growth for such a long period, which may be due to release of new connections and increased usage,” PPAC said. The three oil marketing companies released 4.3 million new connections and 2.6 million double-bottle connections during the April-June 2015 quarter.

Petrol consumption grew 12 per cent during the quarter. largely due to the shift of consumer preference from diesel to petrol-driven vehicles and the continued high sales of passenger vehicles. Diesel consumption, however, grew by a mere 3.6 per cent in the three months ended June. as industrial consumers switched to alternate fuels and improved rainfall pulled down agricultural demand.