India Gives Fresh Push to Household PNG Connections

New Delhi, August 19, 2026 India is set to accelerate the expansion of piped natural gas (PNG) connections under a new incentive scheme aimed at making clean, safe and affordable cooking fuel more accessible to households. The scheme will take effect from September 1, 2026, and will encourage City Gas Distribution (CGD) companies to activate unbilled connections and extend PNG networks to new areas. India currently has 1.74 crore domestic PNG connections. PNG offers several advantages over LPG cylinders and traditional cooking fuels. It is supplied through underground pipelines at low pressure, eliminating the need to book, store or replace cylinders, while consumers pay according to metered usage. The government said PNG is generally cheaper than LPG on a per-unit energy basis and produces fewer pollutants, supporting cleaner indoor air and lower carbon emissions. Continuous supply can also be particularly useful in high-rise buildings and densely populated urban areas. The government is supporting the expansion through multiple measures, including faster approvals and standardised Right-of-Way charges under the Natural Gas & Petroleum Distribution Order, 2026. States are also being encouraged to reduce VAT on natural gas to 5%. Under National PNG Drive 2.0, initiatives include LPG surrender facilities, awareness campaigns and efforts to help LPG-using housing societies shift to PNG. A unified digital portal for registering and tracking new PNG connections is also under development. Under the APM/NAPM Incentive Scheme, eligible CGD companies will receive an additional allocation of 200 SCM of domestically produced, lower-priced APM gas for every incremental billed domestic PNG connection achieved above the prescribed threshold. The scheme will operate in two tranches over six months, with the additional gas expected to replace costlier LNG used by CGD companies for their transport segment. The government estimates that the resulting savings could shorten the payback period for domestic PNG investments from about 10 years to nearly three years, strengthening the incentive for companies to expand household connectivity.