The government has extended Rs 300 subsidy on LPG cylinders to PM Ujjwala Yojana consumers till March 31, 2025, Union Minister Piyush Goyal informed on Thursday. The total expenditure for this scheme will be Rs 12,000 crores.
Apart from this, the Cabinet has also approved a hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central government employees and Dearness Relief to pensioners by 4 per cent from January 1, 2024, the Union Minister said.
The Union Cabinet has also approved the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Raw Jute for 2024-25 season at Rs 5,335 per quintal, an increase of Rs 285 per quintal over the previous season.
As of March 1, 2024, there are more than 10.27 crore PMUY beneficiaries.
Modi govt's PM Ujjwala Yojana introduced in 2016
To make Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), a clean cooking fuel, available to rural and deprived poor households, the government launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in May 2016, to provide deposit-free LPG connections to adult women of poor households.
India imports about 60 per cent of its LPG requirement. To shield PMUY beneficiaries from the impact of sharp fluctuations in international prices of LPG and to make LPG more affordable to PMUY consumers thereby ensuring sustained usage of LPG by them, the government started a targeted subsidy of Rs 200 per 14.2 kg cylinder for up to 12 refills per annum (and proportionately pro-rated for 5 kg connections) to the PMUY consumers in May 2022.
In October 2023, the government increased the targeted subsidy to Rs 300 per 14.2 kg cylinder for up to 12 refills per annum (and proportionately pro-rated for 5 kg connections). As of February 1, 2024, the effective price of domestic LPG for PMUY consumers is Rs 603 per 14.2 kg LPG cylinder (Delhi).
The average LPG consumption of PMUY consumers has increased by 29 per cent from 3.01 refills in 2019-20 to 3.87 refills (till January 2024) pro-rated for 2023-24. All PMUY beneficiaries are eligible for this targeted subsidy.
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