Lok Sabha Question No. 1298 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-11
Subject: DBTL
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: SURESH KODIKUNNIL, MAULANA BADRUDDIN AJMAL, BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO, NARANBHAI KACHHADIA

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1298 TO BE ANSWERED ON  11 th  FEBRUARY, 2019

DBTL

1298.  SHRI KODIKUNNIL SURESH: SHRI BADRUDDIN AJMAL: SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO: SHRI NARANBHAI KACHHADIYA:

पेट्रोलियम एवं प्राक ृ लिक गैस मंत्री

Will the Minister of PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  change  the  existing  norms  of  Direct  Benefit Transfer of LPG (DBTL) subsidy scheme and intends to revert back to their earlier system of supplying subsidized refills to domestic LPG consumers in place of the current scheme of  transfer  of  cash  subsidy  into  the  bank  account  of  LPG  consumers  under  the  PAHAL Scheme and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (b) the quantum and the amount of LPG subsidy transferred to the beneficiaries accounts through the banking network during the last two years, State/ UT/Year-wise;
- (c) whether the Government has received any complaint from consumers for not receiving subsidy amount into their account many times and if so, the details thereof along with the action taken/being taken by the Government against the culprits;
- (d)  whether the sale of  subsidised LPG cylinders has decreased after implementation of DBTL and if so, the details thereof in percentage terms;
- (e) the estimated financial impact to the exchequer/Government as a result of the savings made under DBTL during 2017-18; and
- (f) the method adopted by the Government to calculate the amount of financial savings?

## ANSWER

पेट्रोलियम एवं प्राक ृ लिक गैस मंत्री ( श्री धमेन्द्र प्रधान )

MINISTER OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

- (a) No, Madam.
- (b) As on 06.02.2019, 23.81 crore LPG consumers have joined the PAHAL scheme and are  getting  admissible  LPG  subsidy  into  their  registered  bank  accounts.  So  far,  under PAHAL Scheme, more than ₹ 1,03,197 crore have been transferred into the bank accounts of consumers.
- (c) Some complaints have been received regarding non-transfer of subsidy which was mainly due to deseeding of Aadhaar from National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) mapper. The matter was taken up with NPCI. Further, the customer has also been given the option of receiving subsidy through Bank Account Transfer Compliant Mode.
- (d) After the implementation of PAHAL, 4.13 crore duplicate/fake/inactive domestic LPG connections have been blocked. This led to decline in sales growth of domestic LPG as the fake connections got removed from the system.

During FY 2014-15 and FY 2017-18, the sales growth of domestic LPG were 11.31 % and 7.83 % respectively.

(e) & (f) Total subsidy/under-recovery on domestic LPG which was ₹ 40,569 crore  during the year 2014-15 and has come down to ₹ 20,905 crore during 2017-18. Lower subsidy during  this  period  is  due  to  various  factors,  including  introduction  of  direct  transfer  of subsidy  into  the  accounts  of  consumers  (PAHAL  Scheme),  fall  in  international  crude  oil prices and 'GiveItUp' campaign.