One out of every four beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana — a scheme aiming to make LPG gas cylinders available to rural and deprived households — either did not take any cylinders during the last financial year 2022-2023, or took just one refill.
The spike in LPG cylinder prices have made them an expensive proposition even for subsidised households; rates have almost doubled since 2018, hitting ₹903 per cylinder in March 2023 even after the ₹200 per cylinder subsidy offered to PMUY beneficiaries.
One in nine PMUY beneficiaries, or over 1.18 crore households, bought no refill cylinders at all last year. Another 1.51 crore beneficiaries bought only one refill cylinder, according to data from the three major gas companies — Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) — obtained via multiple Right to Information queries.
