India earmarks 80b rupees to accelerate LPG adoption

Mumbai

KAMLESHKUNWAR, a mother of three living in a village in central India, first used cooking gas to prepare a meal about a month ago. Her family struggled for years with the ash and smoke that comes from burning wood, until they received a free gas connection from the government as it tries to change how India's poor cook.

State-owned oil marketing companies have since May distributed 1.8 million liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections under a new programme targeting the extremely poor, according to official estimates. The government's aim overall is to increase penetration to 80 per cent, adding 100 million connections, over three years, according to YK Gupta, an executive director at Indian Oil Corp, India's largest fuel retailer.