Govt saves Rs 21,000 cr in LPG subsidy

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 4

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today said the government had saved over Rs 21,000 crore in cooking gas (LPG) subsidy in the past two financial years.

This is on account of the subsidy benefit going directly into bank accounts of actual users which helped eliminate duplicate connections and diversions.

The government began paying subsidy directly into bank accounts of cooking gas consumers in select districts from November 2014 and in the rest of the country from January 1, 2015.

As of April 1, 2015, there were 18.19 crore registered LPG consumers and 14.85 crore active consumers, implying a gap of 3.34 crore consumers which were duplicate, fake or inactive accounts.

“Eliminating such 3.34 crore consumers helped save Rs 14,672 crore in 2014-15 fiscal (year ending March 31, 2015),” Pradhan said today.

The saving in 2015-16 was about Rs 7,000 crore, lower than the previous fiscal mainly because global oil prices slumped thereby cutting the subsidy required. “An average of Rs 366 per cylinder subisidy was considered for 2014-15 fiscal,” he said.