Oil firms claims subsidy of Rs 110,967 crore on LPG sales in past 3 financial years

India's three Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) suffered under-recoveries of Rs 110,967 crore on subsidized cooking gas sales in the past three financial years (2013-16) and claimed the amount as subsidy from the centre, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday.

"OMCs have reported they have claimed total subsidy or under recovery on domestic LPG during the last three years (2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16) for urban and rural customers is Rs 79,046 crore and Rs 31,921 crore, which is 71.23 per cent and 28.76 per cent, respectively," Pradhan said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

According to fresh data sourced from Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC), the oil ministry's technical arm, OMCs' total under-recoveries on subsidized LPG sales stood at Rs 46,400 crore in 2013-14, Rs 36,580 crore in 2014-15 and around Rs 12,000 crore in the first nine months (between April and December) of 2015-16.

He also said that LPG coverage has been going up in the last few years and the overall coverage stood at 61.9 per cent at present. Public sector OMCs aim to increase the national LPG coverage to 75 per cent with minimum 60 per cent coverage at state level and at least one distributor in each block by 2019.

The overall LPG coverage in the country -- the ratio of number of active consumers and number of households -- is 61.9 per cent wherein rural LPG coverage is 35.6 per cent as on April 1, 2016.

The minister said that under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, free LPG connections would be provided to 50 million women belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families during 2016-19, adding OMCs are engaged in increasing the penetration of LPG in rural areas by commissioning new LPG distributorships.