India’s current LPG shortage has revealed a striking paradox in the country’s energy transition. Over the past decade, a major push toward clean cooking fuels has significantly improved access to liquefied petroleum gas for millions of households. However, this transformation has also increased India’s dependence on imported LPG, creating a new vulnerability that has become visible during the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
The flagship Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, launched in 2016 by the government led by Narendra Modi, played a crucial role in expanding LPG access across the country. The programme aimed to provide free LPG connections to women from below-poverty-line households, encouraging them to shift away from traditional fuels such as firewood, dung cakes and coal. The initiative significantly improved health conditions by reducing indoor air pollution while also transforming the cooking habits of millions of families, especially in rural areas.
Over time, the scheme helped drive a dramatic rise in LPG adoption across India. Household LPG coverage increased from around 62 percent in 2016 to more than 95 percent by 2026. The country now has more than 33 crore LPG connections, including over 10 crore issued under the Ujjwala programme alone. This large-scale transition marked one of the most significant clean-energy transformations in India’s recent history.
Yet the same expansion has deepened the country’s dependence on imported LPG. India consumes more than 31 million tonnes of LPG each year, while domestic production accounts for less than half of that demand. The remaining supply is imported largely from Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Most of these shipments pass through the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, making the supply chain highly sensitive to geopolitical disruptions.
The vulnerability became evident when the recent conflict involving Iran disrupted maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. The slowdown in tanker movements immediately affected LPG supplies heading toward India. Unlike crude oil, which India sources from a wide range of countries, LPG imports remain heavily concentrated in the Gulf region, making cooking gas one of the first energy products to feel the impact of the disruption.
Economist Shamika Ravi, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, has described the situation as evidence of a broader structural shift in household energy dependence. She noted that Indian households are now experiencing what she calls a “dual petroleum dependency,” where petroleum-based products dominate both cooking and transport expenses.
According to Ravi, LPG and transportation together account for roughly 7.5 to 10.2 percent of monthly household spending. This level of dependence did not exist in earlier years, when LPG adoption in rural India was much lower. In 2011, only about 17 percent of rural households used LPG, making them less directly exposed to global energy disruptions.
The consequences of the current supply strain are already visible across the country. Long queues have formed outside LPG distributors in several cities and towns as households rush to secure cylinder refills. Many consumers report delivery delays of up to a week, creating anxiety about cooking fuel availability.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has attributed part of the pressure on supplies to panic booking driven by misinformation. According to officials, the sudden spike in refill bookings has worsened distribution bottlenecks.
Commercial LPG supply has also been restricted in many areas to prioritise household consumption. Restaurants, eateries and street vendors that depend on commercial cylinders have reported severe shortages. Some small establishments that previously relied on cylinders purchased through informal markets have been forced to close after supplies dried up.
The shortage has also triggered a surge in black-market prices for LPG cylinders. Industry sources report that the price of a 14.2-kilogram domestic cylinder in informal markets has risen sharply—from around ₹1,000 earlier to ₹1,500, then ₹1,800, and in some cases as high as ₹2,300. Some restaurants have reportedly been asked to pay as much as ₹3,000 to ₹3,500 for a single cylinder.
In several regions, the scarcity of LPG has prompted a temporary return to traditional cooking fuels. Reports from rural areas indicate that some households have started using firewood or coal again when LPG refills are delayed or unavailable.
In response, the central government has increased allocations of kerosene for household cooking and encouraged the use of coal for certain commercial kitchens. These measures are intended as temporary solutions to ease pressure on LPG supply chains during the crisis.
Despite the challenges, the clean-cooking transformation achieved through the Ujjwala programme remains a major public health success. Millions of households moved away from smoky kitchens and harmful fuels, significantly reducing health risks associated with indoor pollution.
However, the crisis has highlighted how closely everyday life in India—from cooking meals to household spending—has become linked to global energy supply chains. The expansion of LPG access improved living conditions for millions, but it also tied Indian kitchens more tightly to international petroleum markets.
As a result, disruptions occurring thousands of kilometres away in the Persian Gulf can now directly influence how easily families across India are able to cook their daily meals.
