BPCL post privatisation to bear cooking gas subsidy

New Delhi: Cooking gas customers may continue receiving subsidy into their bank accounts post privatisation of PSU oil refiner and retailer Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), with the government clarifying to potential investors that the present system would not be changed post the change of management in the company.

Sources said several potential bidders for BPCL in their query have raised the issue of subsidy on cooking gas, whether such subsidy would be borne by the new owners post the sale of government stake in the company. The government head clarified that the present system where the oil companies pay the subsidy amount and the government reimbursed such payments would continue.

Private oil companies such as Reliance, Nayara Energy do not get any subsidy support from the government for cooking gas. So if these companies were to sell domestic LPG cylinders, it would be priced at market rates.