Cooking gas distributors in the State have urged the oil marketing companies to reimburse the amount they have lost due to the sudden price cut announced by the Union Cabinet . Many distributors had purchased at least one load of cylinders, and paid for them in advance. However, they stand to lose ₹200 per cylinder as there is no talk of a refund of this amount.
P. Dakshinamurthy, general secretary, All India HP Distributors Federation, said that each load comprised 357 cylinders, and when you calculate per load, we stand to lose around ₹70,000. Some distributors had booked four loads, and overnight they lost ₹2.49 lakh. The overall loss to the 27,000 distributors across the country is estimated to be ₹550 crore, he added.
An Indane distributor said small distributors who sold less than 100 refills and had stored 300 bottles were affected. “For customers who had paid through online mode, we are now returning ₹200 each in cash. The price effective from August 30 is only ₹918 per domestic cylinder. They had paid ₹1118,” he added.
