For the first time in 10 years, the number of LPG customers fell
The number of LPG consumers in the country has declined for the first time in 10 years as the government's emphasis on encouraging the move to PNG, coupled with the suspension of new LPG connections by oil marketing companies, which have seen tight LPG supply due to tensions in the Middle East. In the period from April to August, the number of LPG user households in the country has decreased by around 62 lakh. Supply was interrupted by the Iran War. Due to which oil companies had to close new connections and schedule existing connections. A report mentioned it in petroleum ministry data. The number of active domestic LPG customers in the country declined from 333.9 million in early April to 327.87 million in early September. Under the Ujjwala scheme launched for poor families, the number of customers has also decreased by around six lakh to 105.7 million. The decline in the number of LPG consumers has come at a time when the supply of LPG from the Gulf region has been limited due to the Iran war. Amid the supply shortage, oil marketing companies stopped offering new connections. While the company has resorted to Aadhaar-based biometric verification to weed out inactive customers. The number of LPG customers in India has been steadily increasing over the last decade, with the number of active LPG customers increasing from 148.6 million at the beginning of 2015-16 to 333.9 million at the beginning of the current financial year. On the other hand, around 60 thousand LPG customers were added till July in the financial year, taking the total number to 17.5 million. Of the 6.2 million consumers who switched to LPG, one-sixth were PNG consumers. South India lost 2.63 million, West India 1.62 million, East India 3.4 million and North India 1.5 million.