Petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced on Monday that the price of cooking gas will increase by Rs 50 for both Ujjwala and general category customers. The new prices will come into effect on Tuesday, April 8, 2025. As a result, the cost of a 14.2 kg LPG cylinder will rise from `803 to `853 for general consumers and from Rs 503 to Rs 553 for Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries.
He attributed the price hike to a rise in average Saudi CP, a key global benchmark for LPG pricing, which rose from $415 per tonne in 2020-21 to $712 per ton ne in 2022-23. However, he said this raise hadn’t been fully passed on to Indian consumers.
“The rate of increase has been absorbed by the OMCs…The Rs 50 rise on LPG cylinders addresses the current under-recovery and not the back-log. For the back-log, we will be making a request to finance ministry. The three state-run OMCs have incurred LPG under-recovery of Rs 41,338 crore in the last fiscal,” he explained.
India imports over 60% of its domestic LPG needs. The minister confirmed that the three state-run OMCs — Oil India Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation — incurred an under-recovery of Rs 41,338 crore in last fiscal year.
The government had approved a one-time compensation of Rs 22,000 crore for the OMCs in October 2022, to offset cumulative losses of Rs 28,000 crore incurred due to the sale of subsidised LPG cylinders.
The minister clarified that the new price increase is intended to help the companies recover current losses, not address past deficits.
Meanwhile, as global crude prices continue to fall, finance ministry has raised the Special Additional Excise Duty by Rs 2 per liter on both petrol and diesel. However, the petroleum ministry assured the public that there will be no change in retail prices of petrol and diesel. This means OMCs will now have to pay Rs 2 more to the government as excise duty on every liter of petrol and diesel sold in the country. The revised duty now stands at Rs 13 per litre for petrol (up from Rs 11) and Rs 10 per litre for diesel (up from `8).
“Despite recent hike in excise duty, PSU oil marketing companies have confirmed there will be no increase in retail prices of petrol and diesel. Fuel costs remain unchanged,” the Petroleum ministry stated in on X.
Puri provided insight into potential fuel price movements if global crude oil prices remain stable within $60–$65 range, or even rise to $68 per barrel. The price of Brent crude oil has dropped nearly 4%, hovering near $63 per barrel, its lowest level since April 2021. Goldman Sachs has revised its annual average price forecast for Brent crude to $58 per barrel in 2026.