LPG Users In Poorer States Largely Opt Out Of Subsidy

1.03 crore out of the 24.72 crore active domestic LPG users in the country chose to respond to PM Narendra's Modi's appeal to voluntarily give up subsidy, also known as "#GiveItUp" campaign. Though the number looks big, it makes up for only 4 percent of the total connections in India.

Delhi makes up for the largest share of these surrenders with 17 percent or 8.25 lakh of the 48.96 lakh connections that have opted out of subsidies. The regions to follow Delhi's lead surprisingly do not come from prosperous states like Gujarat and Maharashtra but from the comparatively smaller and poorer states of Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh (in that order). Out of the total number of LPG connections, 16 percent (43,985 out of 2,79,000) in Mizoram, 14 percent (31,569 of 2,29,000) in Nagaland, 10 percent (47,098 out of 4,54,000) in Manipur and 10 percent (23,272 out of 2,39,000) in Arunachal Pradesh have opted out of subsidy scheme.

In bigger states like Uttar Pradesh, which has the largest number of LPG connections in the country at 3.37 crore, only 4 percent have given up the subsidy. In Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, where there are over 2 crore users each, the percentage stands at 6 and 3 percent respectively. Further, 3 percent of the domestic LPG users in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Chhatisgarh opted out.

The state with the least number of connections (in percentage terms) to give up subsidies was Andra Pradesh. Apart from Andra Pradesh, the bottom of the chart included Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

In Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan, 5 percent of the users have opted out of LPG subsidy, while in Kerala and Telangana the number amounts for 4 percent.

The list does not include those with piped natural gas connections. As on 1 October 2018, the total number of active connections of domestic LPG made up for 88.5 percent of the households in India.

If you wish to opt out of the LPG subsidy, you can register online here.