The government is offering incentives to city gas distribution companies to accelerate household connections to piped natural gas (PNG), as the war in West Asia disrupts fuel shipments and pushes up import
costs.
Under the APM/NAPM Incentive Scheme for Promotion of Domestic PNG Connections, eligible gas distributors will receive an additional 200 standard cubic metres (SCM) of cheaper, domestically produced gas for every incremental billed household PNG connection above a threshold set for each geographical area.
The scheme will take effect in September and run in two six-month tranches, according to the government.
Cheaper Gas To Cut Distributor Costs
The additional allocation of domestic gas is expected to allow city gas distributors to replace more expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) currently used in their compressed natural gas (CNG) operations, lowering their overall gas procurement costs.
The government expects the savings to improve the economics of expanding household PNG networks. It estimates that the payback period for investment in a new domestic PNG connection could fall to about three years from roughly 10 years.
The incentive is also aimed at converting unused pipeline connections into active, paying customers and encouraging distributors to extend networks to more households.
India currently has about 17.4 million domestic PNG connections, compared with around 331.4 million active household LPG customers as of July 1.
Push To Reduce LPG Import Dependence
India meets around 60% of its LPG requirements through imports. In 2025, it imported about 22 million metric tonnes of LPG, mainly from the Middle East, at a cost of nearly $12 billion.
The government is seeking to use the disruption caused by the Middle East conflict to speed up the shift towards piped cooking gas and reduce dependence on imported LPG.
Since the war began, several gas suppliers, including Indraprastha Gas, Mahanagar Gas, GAIL Gas and Bharat Petroleum Corporation, have offered incentives such as reduced installation charges for new PNG connections.
Separately, the government is developing a unified PNG registration portal to provide a single-window platform for new connections and allow consumers to track applications.
The measures are part of the government’s broader effort to increase household access to piped cooking gas and encourage a faster shift toward cleaner, safer and more affordable fuel.
(With inputs from agencies)
