NEW DELHI: The benchmark Saudi Contract Price for LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) rose by 203% from $236 per tonne to $725 per tonne between April 2020 and July 2022 but the price of 14.2 kg refills supplied to households for cooking increased 41.5% from Rs 744 to Rs 1,053 during this period, the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Replying to BJP member Sushil Kumar Modi’s question, oil minister Hardeep Puri said the government modulates effective domestic prices of LPG.
He said three refills were provided free of cost during the pandemic to households that were provided gas connection free of cost under the Ujjwala scheme for the poor.
The government has started giving subsidy of Rs 200 per cylinder to Ujjwala connection holders. The subsidy will be available on 12 refills bought during the current fiscal.
Puri said the government spent Rs 3,724 crore in 2019-20, Rs 9,235 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 1,569 crore during 2021-22 on the Ujjwala scheme. The spending for 2020-21 includes funds for the three free refills given to Ujjwala connection holders in the April-December period of 2020.
According to the minister, the number of LPG connections have risen from 14 crore in 2014 to over 30 crore in 2022, including 9.3 crore connections given under the Ujjwala scheme.
