Against this backdrop, India has moved to manage its domestic supply.
In an order issued on Tuesday (Mar 10), the Ministry of Petroleum said LPG supplies would be prioritised for households, the transport sector and LPG cylinder production.
“We are committed to ensuring uninterrupted supply of affordable energy to our domestic consumers,” Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in a social media post, adding there was “no reason to panic”.
Other sectors, including fertiliser plants and the tea industry, will receive only 70 to 80 per cent of their requirements, “subject to operational availability”, the ministry said. Supplies to petrochemical facilities and power plants would be fully or partially curtailed to bridge the gap.
The new rules would ensure equitable distribution and continued availability for “priority sectors” such as healthcare and education, it added.
But restaurants and hotels, which are not on the priority list, have warned that the commercial fallout could be severe.
Zorawar Kalra, vice president of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), said the industry is part of a 6.6 trillion rupee (US$71.5 billion) ecosystem, generating about 18 billion rupees in economic activity each day.
Commercial establishments account for about 13 per cent of India’s LPG consumption, he highlighted.
“Even if 25 per cent of outlets linked to PNG remain operational, a widespread shutdown of LPG-dependent restaurants could result in daily losses of over 12 billion rupees,” Kalra told CNA.
The association has written to the government urging it to designate restaurants – both dine-in and delivery – as an essential service, which would grant them priority access to commercial LPG cylinders.
“If they shut down for even a single day, that’s a loss to the economy,” Kalra said. “We are the second-largest employer after agriculture – 8 million directly employed, and another 8 million in ancillary industries.”
The NRAI warned on Tuesday that 50 to 60 per cent of restaurants in India could shut within the next two to three days if commercial LPG supplies are not restored, in remarks carried by local media.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/middle-east-war-india-cooking-gas-crunch-eateries-energy-crunch-5989111
