More than half Indian houses faced delay in getting LPG last week, some paid extra to buy cylinders, says survey

The study came in the backdrop of global energy supply chains being disrupted by the ongoing West Asia conflict.

In a country having 31 crore LPG connections, about 57 per cent of Indian households surveyed reported delays in getting a cylinder, with some of them having paid extra to procure a refill last week, a study has found.

For more than half of the respondents, their LPG vendor warned of delay in getting the refill.  This, even as the government has increased the waiting time to 25 days from 21 between two consecutive refills. 

The study published in the Local Circles came in the backdrop of global energy supply chains being disrupted by the ongoing West Asia conflict.

The survey also revealed the data on consumer who had to pay extra to get an LPG cylinder. On this aspect, the survey had 19,769 respondents and 39% of them reported no black-market buying. Among those who did so, 8% paid up to Rs 100 extra, 11% paid Rs 100–300, 8% paid Rs 300–500, and 9% paid over Rs 500 per cylinder, while 25% said they were unsure about such purchases.

As per reports, fear of LPG shortage have triggered panic booking and long queues at the oil distribution agencies across the country. Heavily dependent on LPG, many hoteliers anticipate a shutdown of eateries if the shortage continues. Some households have already started to stockpile extra cylinders in case the situation worsens, others paid extra, from  as low as Rs 100 and as high as Rs 2,800, to get a replacement.

When asked if in the last seven days, consumers faced any difficulty booking or receiving a domestic LPG cylinder, a total of 18,798 responses came in. About 43% said they didn’t face any issues in booking or receiving domestic LPG cylinders. However, 29% reported that cylinders were unavailable or bookings were delayed. About 7% waited longer for delivery, another 7% had to follow up repeatedly, and 14% bought cylinders from the black market.

What did the study find?

The study collected samples from 57,000 households across 309 districts in India, covering both urban and rural areas. The review was conducted across a week to assess LPG availability across the country.

Among the respondents, 61 per cent were men and 39 per cent women. While 40 per cent respondents were from tier one cities, others were from tier 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Disruption in the oil route

India heavily relies on imported LPG to meet its domestic demand, with a major share of its oil coming from the Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. Amid the West Asia conflict, its major maritime route, the Strait of Hormuz, has remained closed. Any restriction in the shipment through this route can delay tanker movements to import-dependent countries like India.