If you are a beneficiary of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), there’s some very good news for you. The government unveiled the full details of this scheme in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. More than 106 million poor families across the country have benefited from cooking gas connections under this scheme. The government has stated that people are now using LPG cylinders more than before. Meanwhile, to protect the general public from the impact of high gas prices, state-owned oil companies have been given a hefty compensation of ₹30,000 crore.
Now people are filling more gas
Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi presented some interesting statistics in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. He stated that in the financial year 2025-26, Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries refilled an average of 4.71 gas cylinders. Compared to the financial year 2021-22, this figure was only 3.68 cylinders. The government believes that cheap gas and easy availability of cylinders have led to the rapid increase in its use. This clearly indicates that poor families are now abandoning smoke-emitting stoves and adopting completely clean fuel.
Cylinder worth Rs 1,695 and you got it for Rs 942!
You may not know that India buys about 60% of its LPG needs from abroad, and its prices are determined by the international market. In June 2026, the price of LPG in the international market reached $796 per ton. Based on this, the actual market price of your 14.2 kg domestic cylinder should have been ₹1,695. However, the government has kept the burden of inflation from falling on the general public and, without increasing the price, continues to sell domestic gas cylinders to consumers for ₹942.
Ujjwala beneficiaries are happy, cylinder is available for just Rs 642
The government has announced that more than 105 million Ujjwala beneficiaries are receiving a direct subsidy of ₹300 per gas cylinder. This substantial subsidy brings the cost of a cylinder to just ₹642 for these customers in Delhi. However, due to the sharp rise in international gas prices, the government has made a small change in June 2026. The number of subsidized refills under the Ujjwala scheme has been reduced from 9 to 4 per year.
Oil companies suffered huge losses, the government gave Rs 30,000 crore.
In their quest to provide cheap gas to the public, oil companies have suffered significant financial losses. According to the government, by the end of the 2025-26 fiscal year, the public sector oil companies’ under-recovery (the direct difference between the international cost of purchasing gas and the price charged to the public) had exceeded ₹60,000 crore. To partially offset this massive loss, the central government has approved a significant compensation of ₹30,000 crore to the oil companies.