Interested in financial products
CreditMantri
Processing

Introduction

The government offers huge subsidies on LPG to help the economically weaker sections of society get access to clean cooking fuels at nominal rates. The budget for 2020-21 had set aside a whopping Rs.37,256.21 crores for LPG subsidy. This puts immense pressure on government funds.

To counter this issue, the central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi came up with the ‘Give It Up’ scheme encouraging consumers to voluntarily give up LPG subsidy. It invites consumers who can afford to pay LPG market rates to willingly forfeit their LPG subsidies.

Overview of LPG Connections in India

LPG or Liquefied Petroleum Gas is the most commonly used domestic fuel in India. Most households have LPG connections in their kitchens. It is also used as fuel in light motor vehicles and a few minor industries use it as their primary fuel source

LPG is heavily regularized in India, which ensures that there are stringent guidelines and regulations for one to have a new connection. Often, one household can only get a connection from one distributor. You can't have many connections under your name. LPG connections are provided by both public sector and private companies in India.

Why should you give up your LPG subsidy?

  • Any subsidy given up by a consumer results in more money to the exchequer which can be used for nation development exercises.
  • The additional money can be used to provide connections to households with no LPG connections.
  • Poor households benefiting by the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Scheme can lead a better life with cleaner fuel.
  • It helps in reducing the fiscal deficit by reducing the subsidy allocation in every budget.

How do I give up my LPG Subsidy?

Subsidies are given for LPG connections by the three state-owned oil companies - Indane Gas, HP Gas and Bharat Gas. Though the procedure is similar, there are minor changes in the steps to give up LPG subsidy with each of the oil companies. Let us have a brief look at the process to be followed with each one of them.

How to give up LPG subsidy at Indane Gas?

Indane is the company with the most LPG subscribers in India. As of 2018-19, Indane had 14 crore subscribers and had distributed Rs. 45,823 crores worth of subsidies till the end of 2018.

Indane also urges its subscribers to voluntarily give up subsidy so that the money can be utilized to provide LPG connections to households with no connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Scheme. Indane has so far provided a total of 2.7 crore connections under the scheme.

If you are willing to give up your Indane LPG subsidy, follow these steps: 

  • Visit the official customer portal of Indane gas
  • If you are a registered user, you can login with your username password and select the ‘Give up subsidy’ option.
  • If you are not a registered user, you can just enter your 17 digit LPG Id in the field and follow the onscreen instructions to give up your subsidy.

How to give up LPG subsidy at HP Gas?

HP Gas is the second most popular LPG distributor in India. If you are an HP Gas subscriber and would like to give up your subsidy, go through the following steps:

  • Visit HP Gas’s customer portal MyHPGas
  • If you are a registered user, you can login with your username password and select the option to give up the subsidy under your account page.
  • If you are not a registered user, you can use either one of the below 3 options to pull up your account:
    • Enter your 17 digit LPG ID
    • Enter your Aadhaar Number
    • Use your bank account number and the branch IFSC Code linked with your LPG account
  • Then follow the onscreen instructions to give up your subsidy

How to give up LPG subsidy at Bharat Gas?

Bharat Gas subscribers can also give up their subsidy through their online customer portal. The company informs on their official website that 30,66,500 subscribers have given up their subsidies saving up to Rs.1,83,990 Lakhs so far. If you would like to give up your Bharat Gas subsidy, please follow these steps:

  • Visit the ebharatgas customer portal
  • Choose the ‘Give Up Subsidy’ option
  • You will be taken to another page
  • Here, if you are a registered user, you can login with your username password and follow the instructions to give up your subsidy.
  • If you are not a registered user, you can enter your 17 digit LPG Id in the field given or use your bank account details linked with your LPG connection to pull up your account and follow the onscreen instructions to give up your subsidy.

How can I give up my LPG subsidy offline?

If you do not have internet access, you can directly approach your LPG distributor, fill up the ‘Give Up Subsidy’ form and submit it to them. They will update the system.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Scheme

The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana project was initiated in 2016 under Prime Minister Modi’s government and initially aimed at providing LPG connections to rural women residing below the poverty line (BPL) households. The goal was originally to provide 50 million free LPG connections for three years, and was later expanded to include 80 million connections for eight years. Later, the classification was expanded to include all Scheduled Tribe / Scheduled Caste households and Adivasis. The system is also expanded to all rural households to include BPL families that are not beneficiaries of LPG connections.

Under the program, the Indian Government is offering Rs.1,600 subsidy to state-owned fuel retailers for every free LPG link they offer to rural households. The purpose of the grant is to finance the security deposit and the installation charges of the gas cylinder. The recipient of the subsidy will buy their cooking gas connection. Potential budgetary pressures are minimized because the program requires applicants to compensate for the expense of the first gas cylinder and the first refill in monthly instalments. Subsequent refills are then paid for by the household recipient.

The primary aim of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana scheme are to encourage and preserve women's safety, minimize the severe health risks associated with cooking using fossil fuels, reduce the amount of deaths from unclean cooking fuels and avoid young children from acute respiratory diseases induced by indoor air pollution due to the burning of fossil fuels.

FAQs on Giving Up LPG Subsidy

1. What information do I need to enter on the customer portal to give up subsidy?

If you are a registered user on the portal, you can login with your username password. If you are not a registered user, you can just use your 17 digit LPG ID.

2. Do I have to visit the distributor’s office to give up the subsidy?

You can opt to give up the subsidy online on the customer portal of your gas company.

3. Why did they come up with the ‘Give Up Subsidy’ scheme?

The government came up with this scheme so that the unused subsidy amount can be utilized to give gas connections to poor rural households which do not have a gas connection.

4. Does the government spend a lot on LPG subsidies?

Yes, a huge amount is allocated towards LPG subsidies every year. The budget of 2018-18 saw an allocation of around Rs. 35,000 crores towards LPG subsidies.

End Note

In January 2016, the Government declared an income-based requirement for eligibility to the LPG subsidy. This removed all household connections where one or more family members earned a taxable income of Rs. 10 lakhs. As of 23rd April 2016, 10 million citizens have officially relinquished the subsidy. These subsidies are being allocated by the government to include cost-free cooking gas connections for impoverished families in rural households. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi and Tamil Nadu are the top five states where most citizens have given up their subsidies.

×Thank you! Your comment will be reviewed and posted shortly.