Oil companies gear up to meet LPG demand after Ujjwala expansion
New Delhi: The annual average demand for LPG cylinder refills is now three under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) according to IndianOil Chairman, Sanjiv Singh. “The average number of LPG refills in every household across the country was close to seven plus before the Ujjwala scheme was launched. This has now tapered to seven and the Ujjwala households are on an average booking three refills every year,” he told BusinessLine.
According to IndianOil, the company had extended loans to 1.88 crore Ujjwala beneficiaries for LPG Stove and/or their first LPG refills. Till September 2018, the gross loans extended stood at ? 3,125 crore out of which Rs. 955.67 crore has been recovered by adjusting the loans against the LPG subsidy. The outstanding loan stood at Rs. 2,169.8 crore as on September end.
The increase in the number of refills can be attributed to improved affordability of LPG refills due to the loan deferment and some behavioural change. Without the loan deferment, a domestic 14.2 kg LPG cylinder was costing around Rs. 800 to Rs. 900 per cylinder. The effective price came down to around Rs. 400 to Rs. 500 a cylinder after the loan deferment.
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