Highlight
- Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) on Tuesday announced a hike in the prices of CNG, PNG in Mumbai.
- CNG will be costlier by Rs 6 per kg and PNG by Rs 4 per unit.
- This is the second price hike in a month and will come into force with immediate effect.
CNG, PNG prices hiked: Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) on Tuesday announced hike in prices of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) in Mumbai. CNG will be costlier by Rs 6 per kg and PNG by Rs 4 per unit. This is the second price hike in a month and will come into force with immediate effect. The price revision comes amid rising natural gas prices at the sources of drilled gas internationally as well as domestically.
Rising prices have forced suppliers and distributors to cut industrial supplies for the past several weeks. This is the sixth increase in prices since April this year.
“Due to the significant increase in input gas cost, we have decided to recover the cost. Accordingly, we have increased the retail price of CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) to Rs 86 (per kg) and Domestic PNG (Piped Natural Gas) to Rs. Rs 4/scm (Standard Cubic Meter) to Rs 52.50 in and around Mumbai, with effect from midnight tonight,” MGL said in a statement.
The utility said the price hike is to meet the shortfall in domestic gas allocation, as it is forced to source natural gas with additional market value to meet the growing requirement of CNG and PNG.
The last hike was on July 12 when the state-owned company increased the retail price of CNG by Rs 6 per kg and that of PNG by Rs 3 per scm.
The Center had increased the price of domestic and imported natural gas by over 110 per cent with effect from April 1. With this, the state announced reduction of VAT on these fuels from 13.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent. 1 April.
Despite liberalizing the energy sector, the government still largely controls both the price and supply of natural gas and prices and supply allocations are decided twice a year in advance. The April 1 hike is valid till the end of September and the next revision will be announced on October 1.
(with PTI inputs)