The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs 22,000 crore one-time grant to public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) to help recover losses borne by them on domestic LPG.
It will help the three OMCs, namely Indie expenses borne by them for selling domestic LPG or cooking gas between June 2020 and June 2022.
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“Cabinet approves one-time gran Oil, Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum, to recover that of Rs 22,000 crore to Oil Marketing Companies of Public Sector Undertakings for losses in domestic LPG. Thereby it will help PSUs, and OMCs to continue their commitment towards a self-reliant India campaign,” Office of Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said in a tweet.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur told media persons after the Cabinet meeting that this decision will indirectly help consumers, as LPG prices will not increase for at least some time. He said that all across the world LPG prices have risen sharply, with some countries seeing a 300 per cent increase.
“The grant comes as the LPG prices were not increased in tandem with the soaring costs, and the cost increase was not fully passed on to the domestic LPG consumers. Domestic LPG prices have risen by 72 per cent during the two-year period,” Thakur said at the briefing.
He further added, “The rise in LPG prices led to the three public sector undertaking (PSU) oil companies incurring significant losses vis-a-vis market prices. The one-time Rs 22,000 grant is being given to insulate the domestic LPG consumers from the cost increase.”
However compared to those nations, cooking gas prices have not gone up by that much in India, Thakur said.
This move will ease the burden on OMCs and consumers in the near future, he said.
(with inputs from IANS)