ENERGY SAFETY NETS INDIA CASE STUDY

The report evaluates India's transition to clean cooking energy through four primary mechanisms: Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL), the Give it Up Campaign, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), and the Unified Guidelines for Selection of LPG Distributorship. While PMUY successfully provided 80 million subsidized connections to poor households by September 2019, the study finds that access has not translated into sustained use due to affordability barriers, specifically the recovery of connection loans and the high recurring cost of refills. DBTL reduced leakages by blocking 42.3 million fake or inactive connections by March 2019, but inclusion errors persist as 90 percent of the non-poor population continue to receive subsidies. The report recommends a differential subsidy for the poorest households, waiving PMUY loans, and integrating LPG programs with other social safety nets like maternal health and livelihood schemes to ensure a complete transition from biomass.

• The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) significantly expanded access to clean cooking energy, providing subsidized connections to 80 million families as of September 2019.
• Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) improved subsidy targeting by eliminating millions of fraudulent accounts, blocking 42.3 million duplicate, fake, non-existent, and inactive connections by March 2019.
• Despite increased connections, sustained use of LPG remains low among the poorest; PMUY households consumed an average of 3.4 cylinders per year in 2018, compared to the national average of 6.77.
• The recovery of loans for PMUY connections creates a financial barrier to initial refills, as beneficiaries must pay the full market price for the first few cylinders to pay back the loan.
• The Give it Up Campaign failed to significantly reduce inclusion errors, as approximately 90 percent of India's non-poor population still receive LPG subsidies.
• The use of the 2011 Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) for targeting is outdated and fails to account for dynamic changes in household poverty levels.
• Gender dynamics and social norms limit the impact of PMUY; despite connections being in women's names, male household members often control the decision of when to order refills.
• LPG distribution infrastructure has not kept pace with the rapid increase in connections, with the number of distributors increasing by 32 percent while connections grew by 60 percent between 2016 and 2019.

APA

Patnaik, S., Jha, S., Pradhan, K., & Jain, A. (n.d.). ENERGY SAFETY NETS INDIA CASE STUDY. Sustainable Energy for All. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2020-02/ESN-India_SEforALL.pdf

Chicago

Patnaik, Sasmita, Shaily Jha, Karishma Pradhan, and Abhishek Jain. ENERGY SAFETY NETS INDIA CASE STUDY. Sustainable Energy for All, n.d. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2020-02/ESN-India_SEforALL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Patnaik |first1=Sasmita |last2=Jha |first2=Shaily |last3=Pradhan |first3=Karishma |last4=Jain |first4=Abhishek |title=ENERGY SAFETY NETS INDIA CASE STUDY |publisher=Sustainable Energy for All |url=https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2020-02/ESN-India_SEforALL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{patnaikndenergy, author = {Patnaik, Sasmita and Jha, Shaily and Pradhan, Karishma and Jain, Abhishek}, title = {{ENERGY SAFETY NETS INDIA CASE STUDY}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, url = {https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2020-02/ESN-India_SEforALL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }