The non-subsidised domestic cooking gas in Calcutta will cost Rs 896 per cylinder, following a steep increase of Rs 149. But to insulate domestic users, the government almost doubled the subsidy it provides on the fuel to keep per cylinder outgo almost unchanged.

The hike comes a day after the Delhi poll results were declared. This is the sixth hike in as many months. This is also the steepest hike since January 2014 when the prices had gone up by about Rs 220 to Rs 1,241 per cylinder.

There has been a pattern to energy pricing and elections in India. As the polling for the 17th Lok Sabha came to an end on May 19, the state-owned oil marketing companies started increasing transportation fuel prices. Interestingly, the diesel and petrol retail prices in the country remained subdued when the general elections were on.

State-owned IOC, BPCL and HPCL had also refrained from raising prices while the Karnataka poll campaign was on. However, they have repeatedly denied any correlation between elections and transportation fuel price freeze.

Normally, LPG rates are revised on the first of every month but this time it took almost two weeks for the revision to take place — a phenomenon which industry officials said was due to approvals needed for such a big jump in the subsidy outgo.

The price is primarily dependent on the international benchmark rate of LPG and the exchange rate of the dollar and rupee.

The last price revision took place on January 1 before the Delhi assembly elections dates were announced on January 6.

The subsidy to domestic users has now been increased from Rs 153.86 per cylinder to Rs 291.48. The domestic users are entitled to get 12 cylinders of 14.2 kg each in a year at subsidised rates.

The subsidy for the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries has been increased from Rs 174.86 to Rs 312.48 per cylinder.

The subsidised 14.2-kg cylinders would cost Rs 567.02 for domestic users and Rs 546.02 for the PMUY beneficiaries.

The government gave out 8 crore free LPG connections to poor women under PMUY to increase coverage of environment-friendly fuel in kitchens.

In Budget 2020, the government increased the allocation for providing subsidised fuel, especially LPG and kerosene, by 6% to Rs 40,915.21 crore for the next fiscal. The allocation for LPG subsidy has been increased to Rs 37,256.21 crore for the next fiscal from the revised estimate of Rs 34,085.86 crore for the current year. For the current year, Rs 38,568.86 crore fund has been allocated in the revised estimate as fuel subsidy. But the allocation for kerosene subsidy has been reduced to Rs 3,659 crore for the next year from the revised estimate of Rs 4,483 crore for the current year.