Clean energy push: Govt to revise PMUY target to 80 mn connections in 3 yrs

The ministry of petroleum and natural gas has asked an additional budgetary support of Rs 4,800 crore from the finance ministry for adding another 30 million customers to its flagship social sector scheme Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).

Through this, the ministry wants to revise the target of providing 50 million gas connections under PMUY in three years to 80 million, for which the government has already allocated Rs 8,000 crore. The government support is to the tune of Rs 1,600 for each family.

“The petroleum ministry and oil marketing companies have asked for an additional budgetary support of Rs 4,800 crore, over and above the Rs 8000 crore that the finance ministry has allotted for the three years. The companies expect to achieve 80 million connections under PMUY in four years’ time,” said an industry source close to the development. Under the scheme, the Narendra Modi government has so far added 22.1 million liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections across 694 districts.

Interestingly, the government’s push for cleaner fuel is likely to make India a net importer of LPG during the current financial year. “During the previous financial year, India’s LPG consumption zoomed by almost 10 per cent to 21.55 million tonnes, out of which about 11 MT came from imports only. With the government set to add another 20 million connections under the scheme only, other than the normal connections, the country’s demand will further zoom. The expansion plans of refineries are still on track, which will make India a net importer of LPG this fiscal only,” he said.

An addition of another 30 million connections is likely to bring in another Rs 30,000 crore of investments on LPG infrastructure in the country. Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan had recently said that for every 10 million connections, India needs investments worth Rs 10,000 crore on LPG infrastructure. This is part of the roadmap by Pradhan to achieve about 95 per cent LPG penetration by 2020, from the current level of 72 per cent. PMUY was launched on May 1, 2016 at Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh. The scheme has played a huge role in the recent electoral victories of BJP in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and local body polls in Odisha and Maharashtra.

According to industry experts, the biggest success of Modi in the last three years is providing 61 million new LPG connections, including 22 million PMUY connections, while in the first 67 years of independence, the country added only 140 million connections.

POINTERS

1. In the last three years, India added 61 million new LPG connections, including 22 million PMUY connections

2. Under the scheme, the government support comes to the tune of Rs 1600 for each family.

3. For every 10 million connections, India needs investments worth Rs 10,000 crore on LPG infrastructure.

4. The government has set a target of achieving about 95 per cent LPG penetration by 2020, from the current level of 72 per cent.