The government on Monday allowed consumers to retain the option to restore their surrendered domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or cooking gas) connections in future if they move to areas where there is no piped natural gas (PNG) infrastructure.
“The Government of India has notified the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Amendment Order, 2026 on May 25, 2026,” the Petroleum Ministry said in a statement. It said the aim is to provide “additional convenience and convenience” to domestic LPG consumers who subsequently get a PNG connection.
The LPG control order issued on March 14, 2026, was amended to require consumers with PNG connections to surrender their domestic LPG connections and new LPG connections to PNG consumers were prohibited.
As of May 24, more than 59,800 PNG consumers have surrendered their LPG connections.
The revised rules are particularly beneficial for transferable employees, migrant families, tenants, students and families relocating to non-PNG areas.
Under the amended provisions, LPG consumers who have PNG connections will have two options. It said, “Consumers may apply for termination of LPG connection within 30 (thirty) days of obtaining PNG connection; or consumers may obtain transfer voucher for restoration of LPG connection in future in non-PNG area.”
“This amendment provides significant relief and flexibility to consumers who may subsequently relocate to areas where PNG infrastructure may not be feasible,” the statement said.
The March 14 order was issued because India is heavily dependent on imported LPG and LPG supply was a concern amid the war in West Asia, especially the closure of the key sea route through the Strait of Hormuz, which transports about 90% of LPG imports.
The government attempted to meet the LPG demands of over 330 million domestic consumers and priority sectors such as hospitals and educational institutions by reducing supplies to commercial and industrial customers.
Other measures to meet the demand of Indian domestic consumers include control order to shift LPG consumers to PNG system, increasing the booking interval to 25 days in urban areas and 45 days in rural areas for equitable distribution and maximizing LPG production at domestic refineries.
Domestic LPG demand in the country has increased as the number of domestic cooking gas connections has now crossed 330 million as part of the government’s drive to saturate clean cooking fuel services across the country, from about 140 million in 2014.
To ensure supply of compressed natural gas for domestic PNG (D-PNG) and automobile (CNG-Transport), the Government gave them top priority and met 100% of their requirements. Meanwhile, gas supply to other industrial and commercial sectors, including supply through the CGD network, has now been increased from 70% to 80%, the statement said.
About 799,000 PNG connections have been gasified by March 2026 and infrastructure has been created for an additional 287,000 connections, taking the total connections to 1.086 million, the statement said. Additionally, around 827,000 customers have been registered for new connections.
