LPG cylinder rates at record high after Rs 50 hike

The price of non-subsidised LPG cylinders has been increased to Rs 949.50 per 14.2-kg bottle in the national capital and Mumbai, and to Rs 976 in Kolkata, news agency PTI reported today.

While LPG rates were last revised on October 6, 2021, petrol and diesel prices had been on a freeze since November 4 as five states, including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, went to the polls.

LPG prices had gone up by close to Rs 100 per cylinder between July and October 6, 2021, before criticism halted the monthly revision in rates.

Non-subsidised cooking gas is the one that consumers buy after exhausting their quota of 12 cylinders at subsidised or below market price. However, the government pays no subsidy on LPG in most cities and the price of the refill that consumers, including the poor women who got free connection under the much-talked Ujjwala scheme, undertake is the same as non-subsidised or market price LPG.

This is the highest rate ever that subsidised LPG users will pay. The non-subsidised rate had peaked at Rs 1,241 in January 2014, but at that time, the government provided as much as Rs 600 per cylinder subsidy.

The direct LPG subsidy was stopped by the central government from May 2020. A small sum is paid to cooking gas users in the far-flung areas to compensate for higher freight.

The resumption of fuel price hikes has fanned concerns of stoking inflation, which is already above the targeted 6 per cent level.

PTI