Displeasure over decrease in subsidy is common among people after receiving the SMS of subsidy amount deposited in their bank accounts on delivery of LPG cylinder to them. Now, the oil marketing companies have confirmed the reduction in disbursement of domestic LPG cylinder subsidy, in response to a query under Right to Information (RTI) Act. City-based RTI activist Abhay Kolarkar had sought to know total amount of subsidy paid by the oil marketing companies on account of domestic LPG cylinders. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas transferred Kolarkar’s application to three oil marketing companies namely Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL). Kolarkar stated that according to information provided by these three companies, the total amount of domestic LPG cylinder subsidy was Rs 37,585 crore in 2018-19, which got reduced to only Rs 6,644 crore in 2020-21. In 2021-22, till December 2021, these companies paid subsidy of only Rs 2,706 crore.

 

 

“On one hand, price of domestic LPG cylinder has increased by around 100 per cent in last five years. On the other, the Government has reduced subsidy. At present, the cost of domestic LPG cylinder is around Rs 900/- but the subsidy paid is Rs 40.10/- only. It is burning a hole in the pocket of a common man. Government should consider the problem faced by common man,” stated Kolarkar. As per the data Kolarkar received, the amount of subsidy paid by the three oil marketing companies was Rs 24,402 crore in 2017-18. It rose to Rs 37,585.26 crore in 2018-19. However, since then, it is on a steady decline. The overall amount of subsidy on domestic LPG cylinder in 2019-20 declined to Rs 26,207.65 crore. In 2020-21, it reduced drastically to Rs 6,643.31 crore. In 2021-22, as per the data till December 2021, the total amount of subsidy paid by these three companies was Rs 2,706.04 crore only. In case of IOCL, the subsidy amount of Rs 18,663 crore was paid to 11.50 crore consumers in 2018-19.

 

The next year, 2019-20, the amount reduced to Rs 13,048 crore, but the number of consumers actually increased to 12.18 crore. Thus, though the number of consumers increased, the amount of subsidy decreased. In 2020-21, the amount of subsidy reduced further to Rs 3,350 crore and the number of consumers also reduced to 10.76 crore. But, as the figures indicate, though the amount of subsidy reduced by roughly 70 per cent, the decrease in number of consumers was only around 12 per cent. In 2021-22 (till December 2021), the number of consumers rose to 13.61 crore but the amount of subsidy dipped further to Rs 1,369 crore.

 

The situation was more or less similar in case of HPCL. In 2018-19, it paid Rs 9,337.50 crore as subsidy to 5.95 crore consumers. The next year, though it served 6.2 crore consumers, the amount of subsidy paid decreased to Rs 6,571.58 crore. In 2020-21, the number of consumers decreased to 5.31 crore and the amount of subsidy paid reduced further to Rs 1,725.54 crore. In 2021-22, the company stated subsidy outflow of Rs 715.99 crore to 4.78 crore consumers. In case of BPCL, the company provided amount of subsidy paid but did not provide number of consumers. “The count of customers who receive subsidy depend on the various factors such as CTC status, response from NPCI/bank, opting in/out which may vary across the years,” it added.