PMUY scheme: Refills of LPG cylinders by poor households double in last 5 years
New Delhi, March 25 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) The total number of refills of LPG cylinders by poor households under the PM Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) have doubled in the past five years and the per capita consumption of PMUY beneficiaries has risen to nearly four-and-a-half cylinders per year, according to information tabled in the Parliament.
As on March 1, 2025, there are 10.33 crore PMUY connections across the country. The refill cylinders under the scheme have doubled in five years. As many as 41.95 crore refills were delivered in 11 months of the current financial year (FY25) till February, up from 39.38 crore refills in the 12 months of 2023-24 marking the success of the scheme, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas informed the Parliament.
The number of refills in 2019-20 stood at 22.80 crore, showing a nearly 100 per cent jump in this FY from five years ago.
The government informed that the per capita consumption of PMUY beneficiaries, in terms of number of 14.2 kg LPG cylinders taken per year, has increased from 3.68 (FY 2021-22) to 3.95 in FY 2023-24, and 4.43 in FY 2024-25 (up to January 2025). This is a result of various measures taken by the government to improve access and affordability of domestic LPG for PMUY consumers.
Since the launch of the PMUY, oil marketing companies have delivered a total of 234.02 crore LPG refills to PMUY customers, including the initial installation refill, up to February 2025. During FY 2024-25 (till February 2025), oil companies have been delivering approximately 12.6 lakh LPG refills (in terms of 14.2 Kg cylinders) per day,” the government informed.
PMUY was launched in May 2016 with an objective to provide deposit-free LPG connections to women from poor households across the country.
The target to release 8 crore connections was achieved in September, 2019. To cover the remaining poor households, the second phase of the scheme Ujjwala 2.0 was launched in August 2021 and till January 2023, 1.60 crore connections had been released.
Further, in view of fresh requests, in September 2023, the government approved the release of additional 75 lakh PMUY connections. The public sector oil marketing companies have completed the release of these 75 lakh PMUY connections as of July 8, 2024.
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