As the energy crisis stemming from the conflict in West Asia continues to grow, data on consumption of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) shows that states with the most beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), a programme that largely targets rural households, tend to consume the most LPG overall, though each household in such states consumes less LPG per month than states with more urban populations.
Over the last three decades, as per data published by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), which falls under the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, India’s total LPG consumption has grown six-fold — from 446 TMT (thousand metric tonnes) in 1998-99 to 2,754 TMT in 2025-26.
The 2000s and 2010s saw the highest growth rate of LPG consumption — between 8% and 11% each year. In 2016-17, after the launch of the PMUY, which provides free LPG connections and subsidised cylinders to poor and rural households, there was a considerable spike in LPG consumption – with a growth rate of 10.1% over the previous year. But since 2020, growth in consumption has slowed as LPG connections reached a saturation level.
Earlier, while rural households traditionally relied on fuel sources like firewood and animal dung for cooking, the introduction of the PMUY resulted in an increasing acceptance of LPG as a cooking fuel. As per an answer to a Lok Sabha question, 80% of PMUY’s beneficiaries were rural households as of end-2024.
As of today, there are 33.37 crore LPG customers across India, including 10.56 crore PMUY connections.
The PPAC data, as of December 2025, shows that largely rural and poorer states have the most LPG consumers, particularly under PMUY, and the highest total monthly LPG consumption.
Uttar Pradesh alone, with 4.87 crore LPG consumers including 1.88 crore PMUY beneficiaries, accounts for 15% of India’s total LPG consumers. The other states with the most LPG consumers are Maharashtra at 3.2 crore, West Bengal at 2.72 crore, Tamil Nadu at 2.4 crore, Bihar at 2.33 crore and Karnataka at 1.9 crore.
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Under the Ujjwala scheme, after UP, West Bengal has the most beneficiaries at 1.24 crore, followed by Bihar at 1.18 crore, Madhya Pradesh at 89 lakh and Rajasthan at 74.3 lakh. In each of these states, rural households make up a majority of their populations. While 69.8% of India’s population is rural, as per the 2011 Census, the figure stands at 77.7% in UP, 68.1% in Bengal, 88.7% in Bihar, 72.4% in Madhya Pradesh and 75.1% in Rajasthan.
An analysis of monthly average consumption of LPG per household shows that urban consumers use far more cooking gas than rural ones. For instance, while households in largely urban Delhi use an average 11.4 kg of LPG per month, in Bihar and UP, where a majority of the population is rural, the average monthly consumption per household is just 6.7 kg and 7.7 kg, respectively, or less than half a cylinder.
This consumption pattern has a strong correlation with PMUY beneficiaries, 80% of whom live in rural areas. In the states with the most Ujjwala connections, like Bihar and UP, a majority of the population is rural. A comparison of average monthly LPG consumption per household of a largely rural state like Bihar with a mostly urban one like Delhi suggests that while rural households have the connections, they are likely stretching their cylinders out over longer periods or using other cooking fuels, whereas urban households rely on LPG exclusively and use it more intensively.
The per-household monthly usage also correlates with per capita income. Households in richer states are more likely than poorer states to consume more LPG each month.
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The low average household consumption in largely rural states is despite several of them using the most LPG at the state level. UP, for instance, consumes an average 377.4 TMT of LPG per month – the highest among all states – but its average household’s monthly consumption stands at 22nd in the country. It’s a similar story in states like Bengal, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh – all of which have among the lowest average household consumption despite figuring among the top states in terms of total LPG consumed per month.
