More Stories

Informist, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri will Thursday launch the "PNG 3.0" drive aimed at improving the adoption of piped natural gas and cutting down the usage of liquefied petroleum gas, a senior ministry official told Informist Wednesday. The government is planning to link 20,000 PNG connections per day under this drive, double the current 10,000 PNG connections being linked currently, the official said.

 

The fresh drive comes after the war in West Asia exposed India's fragile domestic fuel availability as supply disruptions caused widespread shortages in LPG, India's primary cooking fuel. The country imported about 60% of its overall cooking gas requirements. Of this, around 90% was routed through the Strait of Hormuz, the primary disruption point after the US and Israel launched a military attack on Iran on Feb. 28.

 

In the wake of the severe energy crisis following the war, the government had to mandate that consumers with PNG connections would neither be allowed to obtain a new LPG connection nor retain an existing additional connection. Individuals having both LPG and PNG connections were also asked to immediately surrender their domestic LPG connection. This idea will persist under the "PNG 3.0" drive, the official said. "Consumers with access to PNG will be actively told to give up LPG," the official said. 

 

Since the war, expanding domestic PNG connections has become a priority for the government. It has taken various measures to boost PNG expansion, including nudging states to bring Value Added Tax on natural gas down to 5% to make the fuel more affordable for households. The Assam government in July cut VAT on PNG to 5%.  

 

According to the official, the government has drawn up a plan to expand PNG connections to 80 more regions, which also includes a few rural areas. So far, PNG connections have been limited to only urban areas. "The government will like to start covering rural areas as well," the official added. 

 

As of Aug. 18, there were 17.4 million domestic PNG connections across the country, the oil ministry had said in a release last month. The ministry has also launched a scheme to fast-track the expansion of PNG connections and bring clean, safe, and affordable cooking fuel to households across the country. 

 

Under the scheme, eligible city gas distribution companies are getting an additional 200 standard cubic metres of domestically-produced, lower-priced gas for every incremental billed domestic PNG connection achieved during the performance period, over and above the threshold level determined for the respective geographical area. The scheme came into effect on Sept. 1.  End

 

Reported by Priyasmita Dutta

Edited by Shubhayan Bhattacharya

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.