LPG price cut by ₹10 per cylinder

After raising cooking gas prices by ₹125 per cylinder last month, state-owned oil firms on Wednesday announced a ₹10 per cylinder cut in LPG rates on softening international oil prices.

A 14.2-kg LPG cylinder — both for subsidised and market price users — will cost ₹809 from April 1 as against ₹819 currently, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said in a statement.

The price cut, which traditionally is announced on the day the change is effective — four times the rates went up in a span of one month — was announced a day ahead of the second phase of voting in West Bengal and Assam.

"Prices of crude oil and petroleum products in the international market have been on a constant uptrend since November 2020. As India is largely import-dependent on crude oil and the prices are market-linked, the increase in international prices resulted in an increase in the domestic price of petroleum products," IOC said.

However, due to growing worries about rising COVID cases in Europe and Asia and concerns over the side effects of the vaccine, prices of crude oil and petroleum products in the international market softened in the second fortnight of March 2021.

LPG prices had gone up by ₹125 per 14.2-kg cylinder since the beginning of February, price data from state-owned oil marketing companies showed.

LPG is available only at one rate, market price, across the country. The government, however, gives a small subsidy to select customers.

However, this subsidy has been eliminated in metros and major cities through successive price increases over the past couple of years. So, in places like Delhi, there is no subsidy paid to customers since May 2020 and all LPG users pay the market price, which has now been reduced to ₹809.

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