The government on Wednesday raised cooking gas subsidy for 96 million poor households by ₹100 per cylinder to a total of ₹300, which effectively makes refills cheaper by ₹500 per cylinder when compared to late August, when the price of the fuel was cut by ₹200 a cylinder for all 330 million customers.

Read here: Centre raises LPG subsidy for Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries to ₹300/cylinder

Cooking gas cylinders (14.2 kg ones) will now be available for beneficiaries covered by the subsidised gas scheme, Ujjwala, at ₹603; it will continue to cost ₹903 for general customers. The move comes ahead of assembly elections in five states later this year, and persistent inflation, although it eased a bit in August and will likely do more in September. Retail inflation in August was 6.83%, down from a 15-month high of 7.44% in July.

Announcing the Cabinet’s decision, Union Information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur said the move is in keeping with the Narendra Modi government’s efforts to provide relief to the poor, particularly women. Thakur did not quantify its financial implication on the exchequer. “This is not a burden, but a help to 9.60 crore (96 million) sisters, or, in other words, 9.60 crore families,” he said. In Rajasthan, where the Congress is in power, the state government announced in its 2023-24 budget that Ujjwala beneficiaries would be eligible for cylinders at ₹500 apiece. In Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP is in power, the government recently announced that cylinders would be provided at ₹450 apiece to all beneficiaries of the Ujjwala scheme and the state’s Ladli Behena scheme.

The Union Cabinet on August 29 slashed cooking gas price by ₹200 per cylinder for all 330 million customers on the occasions of Raksha Bandhan and Onam, which was in addition to ₹200 per refill subsidy available to the 96 million Ujjwala beneficiaries since May 2022.

A fortnight after slashing cooking gas rates by ₹200 per cylinder for all customers on August 29, the government on September 19 launched the third phase of its popular Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) scheme to provide free gas connections along with a stove and a refill to 7.5 million additional poor households for three years.

The first major relief to the poor households came last year when the government restored cooking gas subsidy to them. On May 21, 2022, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman took a slew of measures to provide relief to people from rising inflation that included slashing of central duties on petrol and diesel, and giving ₹200 per cylinder cooking gas subsidy to Ujjwala beneficiaries. The cooking gas subsidy on domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was almost stopped since May 2020, when the fuel’s price plunged to ₹581.50 per 14.2kg cylinder.

Read here: Govt to give 75 lakh new Ujjwala LPG connections, PMUY cylinder subsidy now ₹400

Immediately after the announcement of raising fuel subsidy on Wednesday, education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said PM Modi has “once again given a gift to the mothers, sisters and daughters of the country ahead of Navratri and the upcoming festivals”. “After the reduction of ₹200 in August and ₹100 today, Ujjwala beneficiaries will now get LPG cylinder ₹500 cheaper,” he said in a tweet.