{"id":28553,"date":"2026-09-25T08:45:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T08:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=28553"},"modified":"2026-09-25T08:45:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T08:45:32","slug":"india-loses-6-2-million-lpg-customers-in-months-connections-drop-from-333-9-million-to-327-7-million-reversing-a-decade-of-growth-as-iran-war-squeezes-gulf-supplies-and-oil-firms-halt-new-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=28553","title":{"rendered":"India loses 6.2 million LPG customers in months, connections drop from 333.9 million to 327.7 million, reversing a decade of growth as Iran war squeezes Gulf supplies and oil firms halt new connections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-134479783,imgsize-714567,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/lpg.jpg\" alt=\"India loses 6.2 million LPG customers in months, connections drop from 333.9 million to 327.7 million, reversing a decade of growth as Iran war squeezes Gulf supplies and oil firms halt new connections\" title=\"Oil ministry data showed that active domestic LPG customers stood at 327.7 million at the beginning of September.\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"Oil ministry data showed that active domestic LPG customers stood at 327.7 million at the beginning of September.\">Oil ministry data showed that active domestic LPG customers stood at 327.7 million at the beginning of September.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The US-Iran war has hit LPG imports and as a result India&#8217;s domestic LPG customer base has declined for the first time in more than a decade. Around 6.2 million households have dropped off between April and August.<!-- --> The contraction came as the Iran war disrupted supplies, prompting oil companies to stop issuing new connections and tighten checks on existing customers.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"3\"\/>The decline has taken place against the backdrop of the Iran war and its impact on LPG availability from the Gulf region. Before the war, the region accounted for around 90% of India&#8217;s LPG imports.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"5\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h2>LPG connections drop<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Oil ministry data showed that active domestic LPG customers stood at 327.7 million at the beginning of September, down from 333.9 million at the start of April. <!-- -->The number of beneficiaries under the government&#8217;s Ujjwala scheme for poor households also declined, falling by around 0.6 million to 105.7 million, according to an ET report.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"11\"\/>The fall marks a reversal after years of steady expansion in LPG adoption. At the start of 2015-16, India had 148.6 million active LPG customers. That number had more than doubled to 333.9 million by the beginning of the current fiscal year.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"13\"\/>LPG customer growth was particularly strong in the four years through 2018-19, when it ranged between 11.9% and 19.6%. As the customer base became larger, however, the pace moderated to around 5% or lower. In the current fiscal year, instead of growing, the customer base has contracted by 1%.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"17\"\/>With supplies becoming tighter, oil marketing companies stopped issuing new connections to households and began using Aadhaar-based biometric verification to identify inactive customers, multiple LPG connections within the same family and households that already had access to piped natural gas (PNG), industry executives said.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"20\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h2>PNG push<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the government has been encouraging households in areas where PNG infrastructure is available to move from LPG to natural gas.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"23\"\/>City gas distribution companies added nearly 0.6 million PNG customers during the current fiscal year through July, taking the overall number to 17.5 million. Billed customers provide a different measure of the shift, with their number rising by 1.06 million to 10.7 million.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"26\"\/>The move to PNG accounts for roughly one-sixth of the 6.2 million decline in LPG customers.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"28\"\/>The largest regional fall came in southern India, where the LPG customer base declined by 2.63 million from the end of March. Western India followed with a reduction of 1.62 million, while northern India saw its customer base fall by 1.5 million.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"30\"\/>Eastern India recorded a decline of 0.34 million customers.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"32\"\/>Despite the contraction, northern India remained the region with the largest LPG customer base at the beginning of September, with 99.3 million customers. <!-- -->Southern India had 79.8 million, western India 68.3 million and eastern India 67.5 million.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"36\"\/>India&#8217;s LPG use has risen sharply over the past few years. Consumption stood at 31.3 million tonnes in FY25, up from 29.7 million tonnes a year earlier. Domestic output, however, has not kept pace and has remained broadly unchanged at around 12.8 million tonnes.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"38\"\/>Initial estimates for FY26 point to LPG consumption of about 28 million tonnes, while domestic production is expected to be around 10.7 million tonnes. <!-- -->The numbers again leave a substantial shortfall that has to be met through imports.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"42\"\/>The widening gap between what India consumes and what it produces domestically has increased the country&#8217;s dependence on imports to meet LPG requirements, making the fuel one of the more import-reliant components of its energy basket.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"45\"\/>The supply disruption has also brought another limitation into focus: India&#8217;s relatively small LPG storage capacity.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"48\"\/>Storing LPG is more complicated and costly than storing crude oil because the fuel has to be maintained in liquid form under pressure. This means storage requires specialised facilities, including pressurised cylinders, spherical tanks and underground caverns.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"50\"\/>India is estimated to have a total LPG storage capacity of around 1.9 million tonnes, which is equivalent to roughly 22 days of supply.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"52\"\/>The expansion of storage infrastructure has been constrained by the high cost of building such facilities, geological limitations and the geographically dispersed nature of LPG distribution. With demand rising rapidly, storage capacity has not expanded at the same pace.<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/business\/india-business\/india-loses-6-2-million-lpg-customers-in-months-connections-drop-from-333-9-million-to-327-7-million-reversing-a-decade-of-growth-as-iran-war-squeezes-gulf-supplies-and-oil-firms-halt-new-connections\/articleshow\/134477693.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oil ministry data showed that active domestic LPG customers stood at 327.7 million at the beginning of September. The US-Iran war has hit LPG imports and as a result India&#8217;s domestic LPG customer base has declined for the first time in more than a decade. Around 6.2 million households have dropped off between April and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Oil ministry data showed that active domestic LPG customers stood at 327.7 million at the beginning of September. The US-Iran war has hit LPG imports and as a result India&#8217;s domestic LPG customer base has declined for the first time in more than a decade. Around 6.2 million households have dropped off between April and [&hellip;]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":1,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":4,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790325934_lpg.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-31\">\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}