The Center gives a subsidy of Rs 200 per cylinder to the 9.58 crore poor who get free LPG connections. (file)
New Delhi:
Cooking gas LPG price was hiked by Rs 50 per cylinder on Wednesday – the first increase in rates in nearly eight months – which came within days of the end of polling in three northeastern states and was sharply criticized by the opposition Was.
According to the price notification of state-owned fuel retailers, the price of a 14.2 kg LPG cylinder in Delhi has now increased from Rs 1,053 to Rs 1,103.
State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) said the rate for a 14.2 kg non-subsidised LPG cylinder was Rs 1,103.
The government does not provide any subsidy to most non-Ujjwala users and this is the rate they will have to pay to buy LPG refills.
The government gives a subsidy of Rs 200 per cylinder to the 9.58 crore poor who get free LPG connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. The effective price for them will be Rs 903 per cylinder.
State-owned fuel retailers are supposed to revise rates on a monthly basis in line with the cost, but they have not done so since 2020 and were given a one-time grant of Rs 22,000 crore in October last year, so that there is no gap between them. The loss can be compensated. June 2020 and June 2022.
They last revised the domestic LPG price on July 4, 2022.
With the latest hike, LPG now costs Rs 1,102.50 per 14.2 kg cylinder in Mumbai, Rs 1,129 in Kolkata and Rs 1,118.50 in Chennai.
Rates vary from state to state depending on local taxes.
Similarly, oil companies also increased the price of commercial LPG used in hotels and restaurants by Rs 350.5 to Rs 2,119.5 per 19 kg cylinder.
Commercial LPG rates have more or less changed along with the cost which shot up after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago.
Commercial LPG rates were last increased by Rs 25 per cylinder in January.
The opposition criticized the government for increasing the fuel rates of domestic cooking gas ahead of Holi.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said in a tweet that the common man is breaking the back of inflation in the Modi government.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’s Priyanka Chaturvedi said that this is the Holi gift of the Modi government.
Separately, ATF price was cut by 4 per cent in line with softening international fuel rates.
Accordingly, the price of jet fuel in Delhi decreased by Rs 4,606.50 per kiloliter to Rs 1,07,750.27 per kiloliter.
This reverses an increase in rates effected by a similar measure last month.
The ATF price is revised on the 1st of every month based on the average rate of international benchmark and foreign exchange rates.
However, the prices of petrol and diesel remained stable on record for the 11th consecutive month. Petrol is priced at Rs 96.72 per liter and diesel at Rs 89.62 per liter in the national capital.
State-owned fuel retailers are supposed to revise petrol and diesel prices daily based on a 15-day rolling average of benchmark international fuel prices, but they have not done so since April 6, 2022.
The prices were last revised on May 22, when the government cut excise duty to give relief to consumers from hike in retail rates following a rise in international oil prices.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
featured video of the day
Retail inflation rises to 6.52% in January after 2 months of decline
