The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, hasapproved a subsidy of Rs.200 per 14.2 kg cylinder for up to 12 refills per year to be provided to the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana(PMUY). As on 1st March 2023 there are 9.59 crore PMUY beneficiaries.
The total expenditurewill be Rs.6,100 crore for financial year 2022-23 and Rs.7,680 crore for 2023-24. The subsidy is credited directly to bank accounts of the eligible beneficiaries. Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies namely Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) have already been providing this subsidy since 22nd May, 2022.
There has been a sharp increase in international prices of LPG due to various geopolitical reasons. It is important to shield PMUY beneficiaries from high LPG prices.
Targeted support to PMUY consumers encourages them for continuous usage of LPG. It is important to ensure sustained LPG adoption and usage among PMUY consumers so that they can completely switch to cleaner cooking fuel. Average LPG consumption of PMUY consumers has increased by 20 percent from 3.01 refills in 2019-20 to 3.68 in 2021-22. All PMUY beneficiaries are eligible for this targeted subsidy.
To make Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), a clean cooking fuel, available to the rural and deprived poor households, Government launched Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in May 2016, to provide deposit free LPG connections to adult women of poor households.