The government on Monday said that there is no plan to compensate oil marketing companies (OMCs) for selling transport fuels below market price. Meanwhile LPG consumption dipped 16 per cent in April.
“There is no proposal in pipeline,” Sujata Sharma, Join Secretary in the Oil Ministry told reporters here. State owned oil market companies raised prices of liquefied petroleum gas for industrial customers and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) sold to foreign carriers, however there has been no increase in retail prices of petrol, diesel, LPG for retail consumer and ATF for Indian carriers. These companies have also raised diesel prices for bulk buyers, which account of nearly 10 per cent of overall diesel sales.
She also informed that out of the total LPG sales, commercial users have a share of 10 per cent and prices there for big and small cylinders have been raised. When asked about reason for dip in LPG consumption in April, she listed increase in booking period for refill, reduction in supply of commercial consumers and use delivery authentication code for retail consumers.
“The government’s efforts are focused on protecting the retail customers,” she added.
Meanwhile, latest data from Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) showed that LPG consumption stood at 22 lakh tonnes in April, 16.16 per cent lower than 26.2 lakh tonnes consumed in the same period last year. The consumption was 10.5 per cent lower than the 24.5 lakh tonnes of LPG sales in April 2024. It was also down month-on-month, lower than the 23.79 lakh tonnes of consumption in March.
India imports about 60 per cent of its LPG requirements, much of it via the Strait of Hormuz, which was effectively shut following US and Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran‘s retaliation. With supplies from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates disrupted, the government cut LPG supplies to commercial establishments such as hotels and industries to safeguard household cooking gas availability.
Also, supplies to households were regulated by increasing the gap between two refills. According to PPAC, the decline in LPG consumption in April was lower than the 12.8 per cent year-on-year fall in March. LPG consumption had grown at a steady pace in recent years, driven by government efforts to replace firewood and other polluting fuels with cleaner alternatives.
With the war leading to airspace closure in many Gulf countries and suspension of flights, jet fuel or ATF consumption fell 1.37 per cent to 761,000 tonnes in April when compared to the previous year. It was also down month-on-month from 807,000 tonnes of sales in March.
Other than the two war-impacted fuels, diesel sales also moderated with just a 0.25 per cent rise to 82.82 lakh tonnes. In March, diesel sales had risen 8.1 per cent to 87.27 lakh tonnes. Petrol sales were up 6.36 per cent to 36.7 lakh tonnes in April. The growth was lower than the 7.6 per cent rise in March to 37.8 lakh tonnes.
Published on May 4, 2026