The government decided that consumers with taxable income
above Rs 10 lakh per year will not get LPG subsidy from January 2016.
The benefit of the LPG subsidy will not be available for LPG
consumers if the consumer or his/her spouse had taxable income of more than Rs
10 lakh during the previous financial year computed as per the Income Tax Act,
1961, Oil Ministry said in a statement today.
In keeping with the approach of trusting the citizens, this
will be given effect to initially on self-declaration basis while booking
cylinders from January 2016 onwards.
At present, all households are entitled to get 12 cylinders
of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rate of Rs 419.26, while the market price is Rs
608.
The government had earlier asked well-off people to
voluntarily give up using subsidised LPG and instead buy cooking fuel at market
price.
So far, over 57.5 lakh LPG consumers, out of nearly 15 crore
customers, have given up subsidies.
"While many consumers have given up subsidy
voluntarily, it is felt that consumers in the higher income bracket should get
LPG cylinders at the market price," the statement said.
To cut subsidy bill and reduce fiscal deficit, the previous
UPA government had restricted the number of subsidized domestic cylinders per
household to six every year in September 2012, revising it to nine the
following January.
The cap was revised in January 2014 to 12 cylinders a year,
starting April 1.
The subsidy for 12 cylinders in a year is paid directly in
the bank account of consumers which they use to buy LPG at market rate.
The subsidy payout on LPG in 2014-15 was Rs 40,551 crore,
which this fiscal will be less than half as oil prices have slumped to six year
low. During April-September, the subsidy outgo was Rs 8,814 crore.
There are no estimates of how many LPG customers would have
a taxable income of Rs 10 lakh or more.
Presently, there are 16.35 crore LPG consumers in the
country. This number fell to 14.78 crore after the start of Direct Benefit
Transfer on LPG (DBTL) scheme which eliminated duplicate and inactive
customers.
"The objective of the scheme was to ensure that the
subsidy benefits go to the targeted group," the statement said.
The government had also given a call to the well-to-do
households for voluntarily giving up LPG subsidy.
"So far, 57.50 lakh LPG consumers have opted out of LPG
subsidy voluntarily heeding the call given by the Prime Minister," it
said.
The subsidy saved from the 'GiveitUp' campaign is being
utilized for providing new connections to the BPL families under the 'Giveback'
campaign.
This enables provision of LPG, a clean fuel, to poor
households by replacing the conventional fuels such as kerosene, coal, fuel
wood, cow dung, etc, relieving the poor of the hardships and health hazards
from such fuels.
