India is the second-largest consumer of LPG in the world.
India imports around 60% of its Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) requirement, making cooking fuel heavily dependent on global supply chains.
India’s clean cooking programmes have led to LPG imports surging nearly three-fold in the past decade.
The country has 33 crore domestic LPG connections out of which some 10 crore were added since 2017 through the through Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).
The PMUY scheme sought to offer clean cooking gas to poor people as well, freeing women from the drudgery of firewood-based chulhas, cow-dung and kerosene stoves. The scheme gave deposit-free LPG connections to adult women from poor households and subsidised the purchase as well. The surge in Indian LPG consumption as well as import dependency is attributed to this scheme.
The Government pays India’s three public sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) — Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) — ₹30,000 crore to subsidise their losses for selling cooking gas for cheap at a time of soaring prices globally.
In 2025, Qatar accounted for about 34% of India’s LPG imports, making it the country’s largest supplier, followed by the UAE (26%), and Kuwait (8.3%).
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) powers fertilizer plants, electricity generation, and gas pipelines that fuel vehicles and commercial kitchens.
Half of India’s LNG also comes from Qatar.