LPG Under PMUY: Affordability Of India’s Clean Cooking

Policy Update
Madhesh Raj P R

Background

The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was introduced by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on May 1 2016, as a welfare scheme aiming to replace the use of traditional Solid Biomass Fuel (SBF) such as cow-dung cakes, charcoal and firewood in household cooking with a cleaner alternative, i.e., Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). This scheme aimed to replace SBF, especially among rural households, since it was a leading cause of health deterioration for millions of women and a major source of environmental pollution. Its primary objective was to minimise Household Air Pollution (HAP), thereby preventing respiratory diseases among women and children and reducing pollution. 

It is divided into three phases. The first phase was launched in 2016 to provide five crore connections to women with deposit-free installation. It was further extended in February 2018 to an additional three crore women from SC/ST households, forest dwellers and others. The second phase, launched in 2021, fixed a target of an additional one crore connections and included provisions for migrant families as well.

Beneficiaries were also provided with their first refill and a gas stove free of charge. And by December 2022, the government approved another 60 lakh connections to be made under the scheme. In September 2023, the Union Cabinet approved extending the scheme for another 75 lakh LPG connections over the next three financial years. 

Functioning

The scheme operates through a simple mechanism of identification, verification, and distribution.

Identification of beneficiaries: The government identifies and verifies target beneficiaries belonging to SC/ST households, women from Below Poverty Line (BPL) households, migrants and forest dwellers through the AHL TIN in the Socio-Economic and Caste Census, 2011.

Application Process: Eligible women from those households submit their application along with their KYC, bank details and declare their household members via the scheme’s portal.

Distribution of Subsidies: Upon verification by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) such as Indane, HP Gas, and Bharat Gas, beneficiaries receive their connection, first cylinder, and a gas stove free of cost.

Subsidies: subsequent refills for beneficiaries are sold at market price; however, the government, through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), transfers a monetary subsidy of ₹300 for every 14.2 kg cylinder purchased, for up to 4 refills every year, which was 9 refills until June 2026. 

De-duplication process: The OMCs conduct KYC checks and electronic verification to prevent the provision of connections to ineligible applicants.

Performance

Source: pib.gov.in 

It has been a decade since its commencement, and the scheme has performed well in achieving its targets over this period. The scheme was implemented with an initial budgetary provision of ₹8,000 crores, which included financial assistance of ₹1,600 per connection for the deposit, regulator, cylinder, and installation, and further supported OMCs through reimbursement by the MoPNG. Beneficiaries were also given an interest-free loan, as required to afford refills. By March 2019, OMCs had given ₹4,192 crores in loans, with over ₹2,617 crores still outstanding. The scheme operated by digitally verifying applicants through a chain link of SECC-2011 data, Aadhaar, bank accounts, OMC databases, and local distributors.

This enabled rapid enrollment and processing. Districts, states, and the union level each had dedicated offices and a web-based Project Monitoring Information System to track implementation. The process was successful in implementation and scale, by building a nationwide delivery mechanism, with millions of beneficiaries identified and provided with gas connections in a short span of time. However, the Audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) found that 42% of active connections were issued without proper verification of Aadhaar details for all family members, undermining deduplication efforts. Duplicate connections, connections issued to males under a women-focused scheme, mismatched identities, and delayed installations highlighted weaknesses in the scheme’s field-level execution.

Impact

PMUY has been highly successful in creating and expanding access to cleaner cooking fuel among poor households. As of June 2026, the scheme has provided more than 10 crore LPG connections to women from economically vulnerable households. It is one of the world’s largest clean cooking energy programs. It significantly increased the transition to cleaner fuels among households that previously used coal, firewood, and dung cakes. Evidently, the scheme led to a 2.1 percentage-point increase in LPG consumption and a corresponding decline in firewood use among beneficiaries. 

Source: Comptroller and Auditor General of India Report No. 14 of 2019

Source: CAG Report No.14 of 2019

Notably, its impact is large on health outcomes. Among LPG users, 40.4% reported improvements in the primary cook’s health, while 33.1% reported improvements in other family members’ health as well. Furthermore, 54.5% reported fewer episodes of respiratory illness after adopting LPG, and 43.9% showed a decline in respiratory illness at the village level. Moreover, air-quality monitoring provides evidence that villages with higher LPG consumption had lower PM2.5 concentrations than those with relatively low LPG consumption.

Additionally, 99.1% of PMUY users report spending much less time cooking with LPG, which is significant, as most women in these households are burdened with fuel collection and cooking. Thus, based on assessments by several researchers, the scheme has been successful in achieving its primary goals of expanding access to cleaner cooking fuel, reducing exposure to HAP, improving respiratory health, and enhancing household welfare. 

Emerging Issues

The scheme successfully enhanced nationwide access to cleaner cooking fuel. Nevertheless, its implementation had backlogs, especially in rural areas. According to the CAG Report No. 14 of 2019, nearly 42% of the active connections installed were done without proper verification of the Aadhaar details of the family members. Reports suggest numerous cases in which connections were issued in the name of a male family member under the women-focused scheme. Delays in installations, last-mile delivery issues, and duplication of applications have been long-standing problems hindering the efficient implementation of the scheme. 

The scheme has widened access to and use of cleaner cooking fuel across the country over the past decade. However, it has not been sufficient in eradicating the continued use of SBF in rural areas. The issue is not about accessibility but about affordability and sustained usage. According to reports, 47% of LPG users cited refill costs as a barrier to sustaining LPG as their sole cooking fuel. A large share of beneficiaries depends on interest-free loans for refills, suggesting that continued LPG use may be constrained by household finances.

38% of users had only 0-2 refills over six months, indicating that the fuel is underused and raising concerns about continued reliance on traditional fuels. 29% of users reported having to travel outside their village to get refills, resulting in increased monetary and time costs. While significant results were observed in states such as Rajasthan, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh, states such as Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh showed comparatively modest results, indicating disparities in implementation and usage across regions. 

Source: prsindia.org 

Furthermore, 42% of active PMUY connections were issued without obtaining Aadhaar details for all household members. This has increased the risk of multiple connections within households. There have also been reported installation delays, especially in rural areas, leaving households disconnected for months, thereby reducing effective access. In June 2026, the government announced that the subsidised LPG cylinder quota under the scheme would be reduced from nine cylinders to four. This came from the government basing its decision on the average household consumption data. However, this data may not necessarily indicate that beneficiaries consume only four cylinders.

It may indicate that many rural and semi-urban households are unable to afford refills despite receiving a ₹300 subsidy per refill. In the past few months, when the government invoked the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and announced fixed waiting periods for booking refills for every LPG user, it had a huge impact on several households. Many households in urban areas had to wait a month to book a refill, while those in rural areas faced a 45-day waiting period.

This significantly affected household cooking, and many reports suggest that several households, including the beneficiaries of the PMUY scheme, reverted to buying and collecting firewood and coal for cooking to sustain their livelihood. This had single-handedly reversed the growth that the scheme created in transitioning millions of Indian households to cleaner cooking. This has raised several issues concerning the affordability and sustained use of LPG as an alternative cooking fuel in India.

Way Forward

PMUY has solved a long-standing problem of access to cleaner cooking fuel. Accessibility is no longer the problem; the current challenge is sustained usage. Many households have LPG connections but continue to use traditional cooking fuel, partially due to affordability constraints and supply constraints. 

Thus, the government must strategise to provide targeted subsidies to economically vulnerable households rather than a universal approach to remove affordability barriers. Expanding the availability of 5kg cylinders can reduce the financial burden on households that cannot afford ₹900 at once for a refill. Remote areas still face distribution challenges; thus, expanding distribution in rural areas can reduce dependence on traditional fuels. A gradual transition from a single-fuel LPG distribution model to a diversified clean cooking ecosystem that incorporates LPG, PNG, compressed natural gas, and other fuels would improve energy security, reduce import dependence, and promote region-specific clean cooking solutions. 

Referrences

Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), 2019, “Performance Report on Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana”, Union Government, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Report No. 14 of 2019: https://cag.gov.in/uploads/download_audit_report/2019/Report_No_14_of_2019_Performance_Audit_of_Pradhan_Mantri_Ujjwala_Yojana_Ministry_of_Petroleum_and_Natural_Gas_0.pdf 

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, 2023, “Evaluation of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in Six States of India”, Implementation Research- Health Systems Strengthening (IR-HSS) Platform: https://nhsrcindia.org/sites/default/files/IRHSS%20%E2%80%93%20PMUY%20Evaluation%202023.pdf 

Simrin Sirur, 2025, “LPG adoption correlates with higher green cover, finds study”, Mongabay India: https://india.mongabay.com/2023/09/lpg-subsidy-can-increase-uptake-but-interventions-needed-to-counter-myths-and-improve-access/ 

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, 2026, “Inter-Ministerial Briefing on Recent Developments in West Asia”, Press Information Bureau (PIB), Government of India: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2253071&reg=3&lang=1 

About the Contributor

Madhesh Raj P R is currently pursuing his Master’s in Political Science at Madras Christian College, Chennai. He is a Research and Editorial Intern at IMPRI, with a keen interest in governance and educational policies and aims to contribute meaningfully while expanding his research knowledge and skills.

Acknowledgement of Peer Reviewers

The author extends his sincere gratitude to Shreeya Dixit, Vyomini  Nathwani and the IMPRI team for their invaluable guidance throughout the process.

Disclaimer 

All views expressed in this article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.

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