CNG Price Hiked By Rs 2.5 Per Kg, Piped Cooking Gas By Rs 4.25

Prices of CNG in the national capital on Thursday were hiked by Rs 2.50 per kg and that of piped cooking gas by Rs 4.25 per unit to record levels on the back of surge in raw material cost.

CNG in the national capital territory of Delhi now costs Rs 71.61 per kg, up from Rs 69.11 per kg, according to the information posted on the website of Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) -- the firm which retails CNG and piped cooking gas in the national capital and adjoining cities.

This is the third price hike this month and the 11th since March 7.

In all, the CNG price has risen by Rs 15.6 per kg in less than six weeks. This includes a Rs 7.50 per kg hike in this month alone.

In the last one year, prices have increased by Rs 28.21 per kg or 60 per cent, according to data compiled by PTI.

Alongside, the rates of gas piped to household kitchens, called piped natural gas (PNG), were hiked by Rs 4.25 per cubic meters to cost Rs 45.86 per scm.

City gas distributors have been periodically raising prices since October last year when domestic as well as international gas prices started to climb as economies world over recovered from the pandemic-induced slowdown.

Prices rose by Rs 8.74 per kg in the last three months of 2021, and from January there was a steady increase of about 50 paise a kg almost every week.

The rates have gone up after the government more than doubled the price of natural gas to USD 6.1 per million British thermal unit from April 1.

Natural gas when compressed becomes CNG for use as fuel in automobiles. The same gas is piped to household kitchens and industries for cooking and other purposes.

On Wednesday, Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) raised Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) price by Rs 5 per kg to Rs 72 per kg in Mumbai. It also raised PNG price by Rs 4.50 to Rs 45.50 per scm.

Prices vary from city to city depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT.

The increase in CNG prices follows a Rs 10 per litre hike in petrol and diesel prices in 16 days and a Rs 50 per cylinder raise in the cooking gas LPG rates.

A record 137-day hiatus in petrol and diesel price revision ended on March 22. On the same day, the price of a 14.2-kg LPG cylinder was increased to Rs 949.50 in the national capital. In some places, the LPG price has touched Rs 1,000 per cylinder.

Petrol and diesel prices have been on a freeze for the last eight days. The last price revision took place on April 6.

According to IGL, CNG will now cost Rs 74.61 per kg in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad and Rs 79.94 per kg in Gurugram, the cities adjoining Delhi.

PNG in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad will now cost Rs 45.96 per scm and Rs 44.06 in Gurugram.