Takers for 5-kg cooking gas cylinders rise as Ujjwala gains steam

In an effort to solve the issue of low refills among Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) consumers, the government is going aggressively promoting the option to swap 5 kg cooking gas cylinder with the normal 14.2 kg cylinders.

Based on an estimate by oil marketing companies, since its inclusion in Ujjwala scheme, around 9.2 per cent of 5 kg refills of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) were recorded last week. Based on an estimate by oil marketing companies (OMCs), of the 1,329,806 refills of 5 kg sold since its pan-Indian inception, about 122,332 were sold in the first week of August this year. The aggressive push for small cylinders was part of the 100-day action plan by the current government and hence the companies had gone for a pan-Indian push. During the first week of August, 18,033 new consumers opted for 5-kg refills, of which a majority of 11,605 are by Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), followed by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation with 4,507, and Indian Oil Corporation with 1,921 new consumers.

“We are giving special focus to 5 kg to increase the number of refills among poor people under the PMUY scheme, as it would be more affordable to them,” said M K Surana, chairman and managing director of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), adding that his company is trying to create more awareness among consumers that the option to swap 5 kg against 14 kg is available across the country now.

Based on the data available with OMCs, nearly 86 per cent of PMUY beneficiaries with at least one-year-old connections have returned for second refill, without adding the 5 kg cylinders. The average per capita consumption of Ujjwala beneficiaries is around 4.87 cylinders, compared to over seven by a normal consumer.

To bring in an overall change in the consumption pattern of Ujjwala consumers, which is dependent on factors such as food habits, cooking habits, availability and accessibility to LPG, price of LPG, free and availability of firewood, cow dung, companies have started campaigns and camps too across rural India. To promote 5 kg cylinders, 98,833 camps had been organised since its launch – 35,844 by IOC, 34,200 by BPC and 28,789 by HPC.
 

According to data available with the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), at present there are 23,833 LPG distributors in the country. Around 16,743 or 70 per cent of them have kept 5 kg stock now. India has 265 million LPG consumers now, of which 125 million are IOC consumers, while HPC has 73 million and BPC has 67 million consumers respectively. 

The LPG penetration in the country has increased from 55.9 per cent in April 2014 to around 95 per cent now, on the back of the success of Ujjwala scheme, aimed at reaching out to 80 million consumers below poverty line. The scheme is likely to touch its goal of 80 million consumers by the first week of September.