The price of CNG used in automobiles and cooking gas piped to household kitchens was on Friday cut by 7 per cent in step with a reduction in input natural gas prices.

Indraprastha Gas Ltd, the retailer of CNG and piped natural gas in the national capital and adjoining areas, said CNG price in Delhi will be cut by Rs 3.20 to Rs 42 per kg.

In adjoining Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad, the reduction would be Rs 3.60 to Rs 47.75 per kg.

IGL, in a statement, also announced cut in its domestic piped natural gas prices by Rs 1.55 per standard cubic meters to Rs 28.55 per scm in Delhi.

Piped natural gas in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad would be Rs 28.45 scm, a reduction of Rs 1.65 per scm from Rs 30.10.

This is the second reduction in rates in six months. CNG price was on October 2, 2019, cut by Rs 1.90 per kg in Delhi and by Rs 2.15 per kg in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad.

On that day piped natural gas rates were cut by Rs 0.90 per scm in Delhi and by Rs 0.40 in neighbouring towns in Uttar Pradesh.

The latest reduction follows the government cutting the price paid for natural gas produced from domestic fields by 26 per cent to USD 2.39 per million British thermal unit effective April 1.

Natural gas gets converted into CNG on compression and is also supplied for lighting cooking stoves through pipes.

IGL said the revised CNG price in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh would be Rs 56.65 per kg, in Karnal would be Rs 49.85 per kg and in Rewari and Gurugram would be Rs 54.15 per kg.

In Rewari, the applicable price of domestic PNG would now be Rs 28.60 per scm, which has been decreased by Rs 1.55 per scm.

IGL sells PNG to over 9 lakh households in Delhi and over 4.5 lakh households in Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Rewari in Haryana.

In order to promote cashless transactions and push CNG refueling during off-peak hours, a special cashback scheme of Re 0.50 per kg is also offered for CNG fueling done only at IGL CNG Stations through IGL Smart Cards between 11 am to 4 pm and 12 am to 6 am, the company said.

'With the revised price, CNG would offer over 56 per cent savings towards the running cost when compared to petrol-driven vehicles at the current level of prices. When compared to diesel driven vehicles, the economics in favour of CNG at a revised price would be over 32 per cent,' it said.

IGL, which had rationalised operation of its CNG stations in view of slump in demand following vehicles going off-road due to Covid-19 lockdown, said the rationalised CNG services for public fueling shall continue during the lockdown period primarily to meet the requirements of emergency and essential service vehicles.

A total of 276 CNG stations are being run during this period.