Indian Oil Corporation will launch 5-kg commercial LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinders in Chennai on Monday.
The easy-to-handle cylinders will not carry any subsidy and their price is subject to revision every month. An official of the oil marketing company said the retail price would be Rs.288.44 each. Sources among distributors said the refundable deposit on cylinder would be Rs.350.
From Monday evening, the 5-kg cylinders would be available with six Indane distributors – Sree Navaneethalakshmi Agency on K.B.Dasan Road; Dwarka Enterprises in Tiruvottiyur; Shivshankar in Porur; Taas Gas in Chromepet; Sri Jeyam Indane Gas Agencies in Teynampet and Deepa Gas Agencies in Purasawalkam.
In a fortnight, the cylinders would be marketed through about 30 distributors across the city. Depending on the response, it would be made available at other Indane cooking gas agencies. Chennai is among 10 cities across the country where IOC had proposed to launch the small commercial cylinders.
The cylinders would be available off the shelf, without any waiting period like in the case of the 19-kg commercial cylinders, whose cost this month is Rs.1,019.65 each. The 5-kg cylinders, according to the official, would be ideal for small time caterers who cook for functions in the households. It would be easy in terms of the investment required and the ease with which they could be handled.
Likewise small tea stalls, many of whom tend to misuse the heavily subsided 14.2-kg domestic cylinder, would also find the small cylinders affordable. The 5-kg is expected to come in handy for households, especially large, which find the waiting time for domestic refills irritating.
