India is likely to import around 20.82 million tonnes (mt) of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in FY27 as the world’s third largest consumer procures more than 60 per cent of its domestic consumption.
The Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC) expects India to consume around 34.69 mt of LPG , 27. This is a growth of roughly 4.5 per cent on an annual basis.
India’s cumulative LPG consumption rose by 6 per cent y-o-y to 33.21 mt in FY26 provisionally, which is the highest annual growth in usage since FY19.
India has around 33.37 crore households as domestic consumers of the cooking fuel, including roughly 10.55 crore PM Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries. Around 90 per cent of the LPG consumption is by households for cooking.
India consumed around 33.21 mt of LPG in FY26 of which imports stood 20.50 mt during the April-February period. LPG imports in 11 months account for 61.73 per cent of the total consumption in the last fiscal year.
Similarly, the world’s second largest importer imported almost 66 per cent of its LPG demand (20.67 mt) in FY25 out of the cumulative consumption of 31.33 mt. In FY24, imports accounted for around 60.40 per cent (18.51 mt) of the total consumption (29.66 mt).
As per industry sources, India generally consumes around 80,000 tonnes per day (TPD) of LPG and imports around 54,000 TPD.
The latest conflict in West Asia, which started on February 28, 2026, has severely impacted India’s LPG supplies. Considering that around 90 per cent of the imports, or roughly 60 per cent of the domestic consumption, comes from the Middle East Gulf (MEG) region.
As per Vortexa, MEG (excluding Iran) is India’s largest supplier of LPG, covering 92 per cent, or roughly 720,000 barrels per day (b/d), of the country’s imports as of 2025.
LPG cargoes
Most of India’s LPG cargoes from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman transit the Strait of Hormuz (SoH), a factor that has exacerbated India’s problems.
India’s problems are compounded by the lack of many importers of LPG outside the MEG and the US. While MEG imports pass through the world’s most critical energy choke point, the logistics of procuring the commodity from the US requires around 45 days of travel time.
India has also been trying to diversify its import basket. For instance, it has increased its LPG importing sources from 10 to 15.
Since the closure of the SoH (February 28), India has been trying to arrange LPG supplies from “wherever possible” including the US, Russia, Australia, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iran.
Besides, the government has directed refiners to prioritise LPG production and is encouraging consumers to migrate to piped natural gas (PNG). These efforts have helped average daily production to rise to around 46,000-47,000 tonnes currently. Imports are at around 30,000 TPD.
Published on April 12, 2026
