Around 73 per cent of rural households in India used liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the previous 90 days, but only 23 per cent used it exclusively, while half still relied on firewood as their primary fuel, according to a survey-based report published by think tank Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
The report found that just 47 per cent of rural LPG users received doorstep delivery, leaving refill costs and last-mile logistics as key constraints to sustained usage.
The study covered 2,200 rural households across six states, 1,100 households in informal settlements and more than 1,000 migrant workers across 10 cities.
CEEW said access to LPG has expanded deep into rural India, urban informal settlements and migrant-worker settlements, but formal, registered access has not kept pace.
“Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) and wider LPG expansion have dramatically increased access. The next generation of clean-cooking policy needs to solve sustained usage, affordability, formal access and last-mile delivery,” CEEW said.
It added that informal connections, bought through kirana stores, roadside dealers or unauthorised distributors at a premium, fill the gap left by shortcomings in last-mile delivery networks.
Migrant workers face sharpest access gap
The survey found that migrant workers face the sharpest exclusion, with 79 per cent of migrant LPG users surveyed having no formal connection, compared with 11 per cent of households in urban informal settlements.
Less than 4 per cent of migrant workers are enrolled in PMUY despite a 2021 policy change intended to extend the scheme to migrant families.
“At a refill price of ₹400 for a 14.2 kg LPG cylinder, at least 80 per cent of surveyed rural households, urban informal settlement households and migrant workers, report that they would transition to exclusive LPG usage. The median willingness to pay was ₹500 across the three groups. Both figures are below the current effective subsidised PMUY cylinder price of ₹642,” the report said.
LPG usage was higher among households in urban informal settlements, with 70 per cent using it exclusively.
However, 31 per cent of those without a formal connection said they had been turned away for lacking documentation such as proof of address.
As a result, 11 per cent bought cylinders informally, paying ₹1,040 compared with a retail price of ₹803 at the time of the survey.
CEEW recommends higher PMUY subsidy
As a solution, CEEW said the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas should consider increasing the PMUY subsidy by around ₹200 per cylinder to bring the effective price closer to the Rs 400 affordability threshold identified across the three surveys for exclusive LPG use.
The report also recommended that oil marketing companies, in coordination with employers and contractors, help migrants and their families through special PMUY enrolment drives.
It further suggested piloting pay-as-you-go smart-meter LPG kiosks that would allow partial and flexible refills in migrant-dense areas.
