The government said on Saturday that it will be mandatory for domestic LPG consumers from October 1 to complete Biometric Aadhaar Authentication (BAA) to book refills at the regulated Retail Selling Price (RSP) with applicable subsidy. This would help in ensuring that only genuine and deserving households are provided with subsidised LPG.
In a statement, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas said linking each connection to the Aadhaar-authenticated consumer would help in preventing diversion of subsidised domestic cylinders for commercial and industrial use. Further, it would assist in removing duplicate and ineligible connections.
“The process is not meant to deny LPG to any genuine household, and every eligible consumer has several easy ways to complete it,” the ministry said.
“Consumers who have already completed BAA do not need to do it again. Their refills continue as before,” it added, “For consumers who have not completed BAA, refill booking at RSP with subsidy will be enabled once authentication is completed.”
Step-by-step process to complete BAA
- During refill delivery: the delivery person can complete authentication on the spot using the OMC mobile application.
- At the distributor’s showroom: consumers can visit their LPG distributor and complete authentication there.
- On OMC mobile apps: consumers can complete the process themselves from home using IndianOil ONE for Indane customers, HelloBPCL for Bharatgas customers and HP PAY for HP Gas customers.
The ministry also said that those who are not interested in completing the BAA will still receive LPG. For this, they would need to register this choice on their OMC’s digital channels: the consumer web portal, mobile app, WhatsApp chatbot, IVRS or other available channels.
These consumers will be supplied LPG applicable market price, without any subsidy, in 5 kg or 10 kg cylinders, subject to local availability with the OMC, it said.
The government had initially asked consumers to complete biometric Aadhaar authentication by June 30, but subsequently extended the deadline several times to July 31, August 7, August 15, August 23, August 31, September 7 and finally September 14.
The nationwide authentication drive has been underway since October 2023, with oil marketing companies sending more than 12 crore SMS and WhatsApp messages and conducting outreach through distributors, delivery personnel, special camps, IVRS prompts and other channels.
The latest move comes against the backdrop of the government’s substantial fiscal support for keeping domestic LPG affordable. The implicit subsidy for a 14.2-kg cylinder was around Rs 210 in September 2026, compared to Rs 721 in June, according to the ministry.
(With inputs from PTI)
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