By Manish Gupta
Indraprastha Gas (IGL) on Saturday reduced the price of domestic piped natural gas (PNG) by Rs 5 per standard cubic metre (scm) and compressed natural gas (CNG) by Rs 4.92 to Rs 5.97 per kg across its various geographical areas in the country.
The revised retail prices of PNG and CNG will become effective from Sunday (for CNG starting at 6 am on April 9).
Mahanagar Gas (MGL) revised the prices downward by Rs 5 per scm in PNG and by Rs 8 per kg in CNG in and around Mumbai on Friday.
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The slashing of gas prices by the city gas distributors (CGDs) follows the government’s decision on Thursday to amend the gas pricing method by linking it to crude oil and binding it in a range of $4 to $6.5 per mmBtu for the next two years.
“As an organisation committed to maximising customer value, @iglsocial has announced significant reduction in prices of CNG & PNG in its areas of operation,” IGL said in a tweet, adding that the retail gas prices charged in the national capital are one of the lowest in the country.
The revised retail price of PNG would be Rs 48.59/scm in Delhi, Rs 48.46/scm in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad and, and Rs 47.40/scm in Gurugram, Rewari, Karnal and Kaithal, with effect from Sunday.
Similarly, the new PNG price in Meerut, Muzzaffarnagar and Shamli would be Rs 51.97, in Kanpur, Fatehpur and Hamirpur would be Rs 51.10, and in Ajmer, Pali and Rajasmand would be Rs 54.23/scm, the company said in a statement.
Consumers of CNG will now pay Rs 73.59 per kg in Delhi, Rs 77.20 in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad, and Rs 82.62 in Gurugram.
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Those in Rewari would pay Rs 84.20, in Karnal and Kaithal Rs 82.93, in Muzzaffarnagar, Meerut and Shamli Rs 81.58, and in Ajmer, Pali and Rajasamand Rs 84.44 per kg.
New CNG price in Kanpur, Fatehpur, Hamirpur, Banda, Chitrakoot and Mahoba would be Rs 84.42 per kg with effect from April 9.
In Mumbai area, the price of PNG has come down to Rs 49/scm and that of CNG to Rs 79/kg with effect from midnight April 7, MGL said in a statement.
The reduction in PNG prices by IGL ranges from 8.4% to 9.5%, and in CNG, the range is 6-7.5%.
MGL brought down the prices by 9.3% in PNG and by 9.2% in CNG.
Analysts were expecting prices to fall by up to 11%. However, some had noted that the full benefit may not be passed on considering that the CGDs were operating under compressed margins in the last 2-3 quarters due to high gas prices.
“We have more than two million domestic connections for PNG and an equally high number of vehicles using CNG. With this decrease in PNG prices, we expect to add another three lakh PNG consumers in this fiscal,” said a senior IGL official.
Torrent Gas slashes CNG price by up to Rs 8.25/kg
Torrent Gas on Saturday said it has cut CNG prices by up to Rs 8.25 per kg and piped cooking gas prices by up to Rs 5 following the government move to reduce input natural gas prices.
Torrent Gas has licences to operate city gas networks retailing CNG to automobiles and piped natural gas, called PNG, to household kitchens in 34 districts across the country, including in Chennai and Jaipur.
In a statement, the firm said it is effecting “a significant reduction of between Rs 4 per standard cubic meter to Rs 5 per SCM in the price of domestic PNG and between Rs 6 per kg to Rs 8.25 per kg in the retail price of CNG in its areas of operation across the country effective from today evening”.
This will make CNG up to 47% cheaper when compared to petrol and 31% cheaper when compared to diesel. Similarly, domestic PNG will now be up to 28% cheaper when compared to domestic LPG.
