Govt To Offer Incentives To City Gas Distributors To Boost Household PNG Connections

New Delhi, Aug 19 (KNN) India will offer incentives to city gas distribution companies to expand domestic connections for piped natural gas (PNG), the government said on Tuesday, as disruptions to fuel supplies due to the West Asia conflict raise concerns over LPG imports and costs.

Under the scheme, effective from September, city gas distributors will receive an additional 200 standard cubic metres of lower-cost domestic gas for every household that they connect to the PNG network and that subsequently starts using and paying for the fuel, Reuters reported. 

Push to Expand PNG Network

The incentive is aimed at encouraging distributors to convert existing but inactive PNG connections into paying customers and extend pipeline networks to more households, according to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG).

The additional domestic gas allocation would reduce sourcing costs for distributors and could help them recover investments in new connections in around three years, compared with roughly 10 years under existing conditions.

Since the start of the conflict, gas suppliers including Indraprastha Gas, Mahanagar Gas, GAIL Gas and Bharat Petroleum Corporation have introduced measures such as lower installation charges to encourage households to switch to piped gas.

Reducing LPG Import Dependence

India currently has around 17.4 million domestic PNG connections, compared with about 331.4 million active household LPG customers as of July 1, according to government data.

India imports around 60 per cent of its LPG requirements. The country imported about 22 million tonnes of LPG in 2025, largely from West Asia, at a cost of nearly USD 12 billion.

(KNN Bureau)