 "DBTL enrolment finally stops with 128.7 million beneficiaries")
This translates into annual subsidy savings for the government to the tune of Rs 5,060 crore at the current prices that was linked to the rest 21.3 million customers. These include mostly fake accounts and people who have voluntarily surrendered subsidy or lack bank accounts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday listed the success of the scheme as a major achievement by his government. “We have ensured LPG subsidy is delivered directly to the bank accounts of more than 12 crore (120 million) customers,” he said while speaking at a public rally in Mathura on how the government has eliminated middlemen and agents from the system.
Business Standard had reported last month the pace of enrolment under the scheme, touted as the world’s largest cash transfer programme, had slowed down and was likely to stop soon, weeding out 20-30 million mostly duplicate accounts. The government had budgeted for a total petroleum subsidy outgo of Rs 30,000 crore in the Union Budget 2015-16, including Rs 22,000 crore for LPG. The estimate was recently increased to Rs 40,000 crore.
The government had already identified and eliminated around 10 million fake connections under a de-duplication drive over the past two years. The latest round of elimination through enrolments under modified DBTL has added to that list.
Under the current scheme, consumers who are not enrolled were given a three months’ grace period during which they received the cylinders at subsidised rates. After the grace period, they were to be given an additional period of three months ending June as parking period. During the parking period they would have to buy cylinders at the market rate. If the consumer joins the scheme within the parking period, the subsidy according to entitlement and consumption during the parking period would be transferred to the customer's bank account.
A petroleum ministry official said it might be too early to arrive at the exact quantum of subsidy savings for the government as the true picture would emerge only after June when the parking period for subsidy ended.
Consumers are currently entitled to 12, 14.2-kg cylinders in a year at subsidised rates. Any requirement above that has to be procured at market price. A subsidised 14.2-kg cylinder is currently available at Rs 417 in Delhi as against the market price of Rs 621 a cylinder. The government could thus end up saving around Rs 5,060 crore annually based on a per cylinder subsidy of Rs 198 on the current crude oil prices.
The National Democratic Alliance government had started modified-DBTL, delinking it from Aadhar, in 54 districts in mid-November of 2014. Later, the scheme was rolled out across the country, or in 676 districts, on January 1, transferring cooking gas subsidy directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries. Since then, the enrolments have risen gradually.