(ET)
Nearly 80 per cent of Indian households now have access to clean cooking gas, a big jump from 56 per cent three years ago, as state-run oil firms are enrolling new customers at a record pace to meet the target set by the Modi government. These firms added as many as seven crore LPG customers between April 2015 and December 2017, expanding the active customer base by about 50 per cent, an unheard-of rate in the past.
The key driver of such expansion has been the government determination to wean all homes off hazardous traditional cooking fuel such as firewood and coal. Prodded by petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan, staterun oil firms have worked on a war footing to induce demand for fresh connections through a mix of actively reaching out to potential customers, simplifying subscription process and using official subsidy scheme to tap poor households.
