New Delhi: The central government Saturday announced that effective 23 March 2026, states will receive an additional 20 percent allocation of commercial liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). This takes the total allocation to 50 percent of pre-crisis levels, though 10 percent of it remains conditional on states’ efforts to promote piped natural gas (PNG) connections.
At the onset of the conflict, the government had restricted commercial LPG supply to 20 percent, prioritising domestic consumption. Last week, it extended an additional 10 percent allocation, contingent on states undertaking business reforms to facilitate PNG adoption.
According to a letter dated 21 March from Petroleum Secretary Neeraj Mittal to the chief secretaries of all states and Union Territories, “The additional allocation of 20 percent shall be given on priority to the following sectors—restaurants, dhabas, hotels, industrial canteen, food processing / dairy, subsidised canteens / outlets run by state governments or local bodies for food.”
The letter further stated, “All commercial / industrial LPG consumers shall have to register with OMCs [oil marketing companies] before they can be eligible to be allotted any commercial LPG from the overall 50 percent allocation.”
Speaking at an inter-ministerial briefing Monday, Sujata Sharma, joint secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said, “Repeated inputs from the field and reports received through various channels indicated that shortages of commercial LPG were causing difficulties for many. The Government of India’s effort is to minimise these difficulties as much as possible.”
On the government’s repeated push for households to switch from LPG to PNG, Sharma said that “close to 1.9 lakh consumers have migrated from LPG to PNG so far”.
With domestic LPG production having risen by 40 percent since the onset of the conflict, it now meets 50-60 percent of India’s demand. “Domestic LPG production now meets 50-60 percent of our demand, but with 90 percent of our imports being impacted due to war, we require a lot more LPG and we are taking cargoes from wherever possible,” Sharma said.
She added, “…till now about 20 states and Union Territories have allocated commercial LPG, and about 15,800 tonnes of commercial LPG have been distributed.”
On measures to curb hoarding and black marketing, Sharma said around 37,000 raids have been conducted, more than 550 FIRs filed, and over 150 people arrested.
According to Ministry of Ports , Shipping and Waterways, two Indian Flag LPG carriers, Jag Vasant and Pine Gas, carrying 92,612.59 MT of LPG, transited through the Strait of Hormuz Monday evening. The vessels have 33 and 27 Indian seafarers onboard, respectively.
These vessels are destined for India and are likely to reach Indian ports between 26 and 28 March.
Providing an update on stranded vessels, Rajesh Kumar Sinha, Special Secretary at the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said that of the 22 ships stuck on the western side of the Strait of Hormuz with 611 seafarers last week, the number has now come down to 600 after 11 personnel signed off. “In my previous briefing, I had mentioned 611 Indian sailors as 11 of them have signed off, which is why the current number is 600,” Sinha said.
Reacting to US President Donald Trump’s announcement postponing the strikes on Iran for next five days, Randhir Jaiswal, Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said, “We are closely monitoring the developments as we do.”
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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