Number of poor families getting cheap LPG under Ujjwala scheme rises to 10.6 crore

New Delhi, Nov 21 (IANS) Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, said on Friday that the number of poor families in India getting an LPG cylinder at a subsidised price under the Prime Minister Modi-led government’s Ujjwala Yojana has gone up to 10.6 crore while the number of homes getting piped natural gas in their kitchens has risen to 1.56 crore.

He also added that the length of the gas pipeline network across the country has now crossed 25,000 km and the number of compressed natural gas filling stations for vehicles in various cities nationwide has gone up to 8,340.

“The sounds of a progressing Bharat are subtle yet powerful. Energy that powers, protects and progresses — every single day under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership,” the Minister remarked in a post on X.

As on July 1, 2025, there are about 10.33 crore families benefiting from the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).

Another 2.7 million connections were approved for beneficiaries during the 2025–2026 phase, bringing the total to 10.6 crore.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently approved an outlay of Rs 12,000 crore for the targeted subsidy of Rs 300 per 14.2 kg cylinder for up to 9 refills per year to the PMUY beneficiaries during Financial Year (FY) 2025-26.

PMUY scheme was launched in May 2016 with the objective to provide deposit-free LPG connection to adult women from poor households across the country.

All PMUY beneficiaries receive deposit-free LPG connection which includes security deposit of cylinder, pressure regulator, Suraksha Hose, domestic gas consumer card booklet and installation charges.

The objective of the scheme is to shield PMUY beneficiaries from the impact of sharp fluctuations in international prices of LPG since 60 per cent of India’s LPG requirement is met through imports.

According to the existing modalities of Ujjwala 2.0, the first refill and stove is also provided free of cost to all beneficiaries.

PMUY beneficiaries are not required to make any payments for the LPG connection or the first refill or stove as the cost for these is borne by the Union government through the public sector oil marketing companies.

Under the targeted subsidy to Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana consumers to make LPG more affordable for them and thereby ensuring sustained usage of the cooking gas by these households, the Union government started a targeted subsidy of Rs 200 per 14.2 kg cylinder for up to 12 refills per annum to the PMUY consumers in May 2022.

In October 2023, the Union government increased the targeted subsidy to Rs 300 per 14.2 kg cylinder for up to 12 refills per annum.

The average per capita consumption of PMUY consumers, which was only about 3 refills in 2019-20 and 3.68 refills in 2022-23 has improved to about 4.47 during FY 2024-25 reflecting the success of the scheme, according to an official statement.

–IANS

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