India’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) problem is not a passing shortage. It comes from a gap that has grown too wide to ignore. India consumed about 33.15 million tonnes of LPG last year, but domestic production met only about 40% of that need. The remaining 60% had to be imported. Put plainly, India’s total LPG demand is now about 250% of indigenous production, while annual LPG imports are equal to about 150% of domestic LPG output. That is not a minor balancing gap. It is a significant mismatch between what India produces and what its kitchens consume.
This matters because LPG in India is overwhelmingly a household fuel; commercial LPG accounts for less than 10% of national consumption. So, the imported molecule is not mainly feeding a flexible industrial user that can cut runs or switch feedstock. It is going into domestic kitchens. This is what makes India’s LPG dependence more serious than a normal product-import issue. A petrochemical plant can slow down. A household kitchen cannot.
Published - April 21, 2026 12:16 am IST
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