Sale of commercial LPG, autogas goes up, thanks to DBT

The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme for LPG (domestic) refill supply has begun paying dividends. The sale of commercial cylinders and auto liquefied petroleum gas has shot up considerably in Karnataka, mainly as a result of prevention in diversion of LPG domestic refills. 

State-owned oil companies—IOC, BPC, HPC—sold about 20,000 commercial cylinders in Karnataka in April this year against an average monthly sale of 15,000. Similarly, the sale of auto LPG went up by 8,000 kilo litres in the last month when the scheme became mandatory. The sale of domestic LPG refill, which is highly subsidised, is expected to come down by 10 per cent in the days to come. 

“The figures speak for themselves. The sale of commercial cylinders and auto LPG has increased as diversion of domestic LPG has stopped considerably. The DBT scheme has achieved its objective,” said Abhijit Dey, Assistant General Manager (LPG), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). The demand for domestic LPG is expected to come down in the coming months as we move towards cent per cent implementation of the scheme.” 

The modified version of DBT was launched across Karnataka in January this year, and it became mandatory from April 1 onwards. Under the scheme, which aims to prevent the diversion of subsidised LPG refills, the subsidy for the refill supply is directly deposited to consumers’ bank accounts. Consumers can link either their Aadhaar-based bank accounts or ordinary bank accounts to their consumer numbers. 

About 85 per cent of the one lakh LPG (domestic) consumers  in the State have so far come under the DBT scheme. Nearly 40 per cent of them have chosen to link their consumer numbers with Aadhaar-based bank accounts, and the remaining with ordinary bank accounts. In Bengaluru city, about 10 lakh of the total 30 lakh consumers have linked to their Aadhaar accounts. 

“Sanctioning of new connections for LPG domestic refill is growing at 15 per cent in Karnataka. The supply of domestic LPG refill has almost remained constant. But we are expecting it (demand) to come down by this year-end. The exact figures of supply of domestic LPG will be known after a few months,” Dey said. 

Waiting period reduced As fewer LPG cylinders are being diverted to black market, the waiting period for LPG domestic refill supply has come down from the average 15 days to three days. Dey expects things to get even better in the coming days as the scheme’s coverage grows wider.