LPG consumption up 7.3% despite price rise: Oil companies
The HinduCooking gas LPG consumption rose 7.3% in the last three months despite a steep price rise, with usage among the PMUY beneficiaries, who are mostly poor rural households, jumping near 20%, State-owned oil companies said. “LPG consumption has improved amongst PMUY customers,” Indian Oil Corporation said in a statement. Cooking gas consumption between December 2020 and February 2021, the period that saw a massive ₹175 per cylinder increase in rates across all categories, jumped 19.5% among the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries — the over 8 crore poor households that got free connection since 2016. While there was an overall 23.2% surge in LPG consumption in the initial quarter of the current fiscal year mainly due to free LPG cylinders provided to PMUY beneficiaries to tide over problems of the COVID-19 lockdown, cooking gas demand continued to improve in December-February with a 7.3% year-on-year growth, the statements said.