Public sector oil marketing corporations Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum have decided to explore the prospect of supplying 5-kg liquefied petroleum gas cylinders to beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).
A move aimed at improving consumption of the clean cooking fuel in economically weaker households, the decision to provide them an alternative to the relatively expensive, bulkier 14.2-kg cylinders follows a directive from the Union Petroleum Ministry.
The directive in turn comes in the backdrop of reports that many PMUY beneficiaries were not purchasing refill beyond the first few as they are unable to afford the cost of the 14.2-kg cylinders.
PMUY or Ujjwala, as the scheme is better known, was rolled out in the country from Uttar Pradesh three years ago and over seven crore connections had been issued thus far. In Telangana, the programme was launched in April 2018 and, according to official estimates, more than 9.23 lakh connections have been released.
As in the case of 14.2-kg cylinders, the 5-kg cylinders will also be supplied to customers at a subsidised rate under the Direct Benefit Transfer or, in other words, the users get the subsidy amount in their bank account.
The Ministry wants the oil companies to promote the use of 5-kg refill among the beneficiaries as it would still help achieve the objectives of PMUY of promoting LPG as an alternative to fuels such as kerosene and firewood.
From a cost perspective, the smaller cylinder is expected to be easier on the pocket. While the customer in Hyderabad has to pay ₹768 at the time of purchasing a 14.2-kg Indane cylinder (within the 12 refills per household limit), the subsidy amount paid in her bank account is ₹263.50. In the case of 5-kg cylinder, the present cost of the refill is ₹281 and the subsidy that will be credited to the bank account is ₹93.33.
A senior official of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) said the oil company had already approached such customers and was successful in getting them switch to 5-kg cylinder.
Any such exercise is also bound to improve the popularity of 5-kg cylinder for the oil companies that are finding not many takers for the refill. It is also marketed without subsidy (₹417.50 per Indane refill in Hyderabad) and sold as a free trade product.
