LPG crisis

 India’s LPG 

India’s LPG system is not weak—but tightly balanced.

Every month, India consumes about 2.3–2.4 million tonnes of LPG—roughly 16–17 crore cylinders. Nearly 60–65% of this is imported, largely from the Middle East. That is the core vulnerability.

This is not new. During the Iraq war period, shortages were visible everywhere—petrol bunks ran dry, LPG cylinders took weeks, and even public transport was affected.

Back then, the system had another problem: poor control.

Waiting lists were maintained manually by local dealers

Booking lacked transparency

Allocation depended on local discretion

Mismanagement was common. Genuine users waited, while influence often decided priority

Today, this layer has improved significantly.

Digitisation has changed the system:

Refill requests are time-stamped and centrally recorded

Consumer data is cleaned and de-duplicated

Supply and delivery are tracked end-to-end

In simple terms, we have moved from a manual register to a controlled database system. Leakages are lower, and distribution is more disciplined.

But one thing has not changed: supply dependence.

In a severe disruption—say, Middle East supply drops—India could lose about 1.3 MMT per month. What remains would be around 1.0 MMT, or roughly 7 crore cylinders.

Even if commercial LPG is fully diverted to households, total supply remains the same.

Household demand: ~14–15 crore cylinders

Available supply: ~7 crore cylinders

Only about half the demand can be met.

This is the key point: redistribution cannot solve shortage—only supply can.

Today, shortages don’t appear as total collapse. Instead, they show up as:

Delayed refills

Longer waiting times

Controlled distribution

Earlier, crisis was loud. Today, it is managed and muted.

But if disruption is prolonged, even this system will come under stress.

The real issue is structural. India still lacks:

Large buffer reserves

Fully diversified imports

Scalable alternatives to LPG

So global shocks will continue to create local discomfEarlier, shortages used to shout from petrol bunks. Today, they whisper through delayed deliveries. The system has improved—but arithmetic has not changed.