In a bid to prune oil and gas subsidies further, the Modi government said that those who earned a taxable income of more than Rs 10 lakh annually in the previous financial year won't be eligible for LPG subsidy that is currently Rs 189 per cylinder.
It will be effective January 2016 onwards on the basis of self-declaration while booking cylinders, the ministry of petroleum and natural gas said in a statement.
Currently, there are 16.35 crore LPG consumers in India, out of which 14.78 crore avail of the subsidy that is transferred to their bank accounts under the direct benefit transfer scheme (PAHAL).
In response to an earlier appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to voluntarily give up LPG subsidy, many people had responded, with the number now at 57.50 lakh consumers, according to the statement released on 28 December.
The "GiveitUp" was aimed at exhorting the well-to-do LPG consumers to not claim the subsidy. A subsidised 14.2 kg LPG cylinder costs Rs 419 while the non-subsidised one is priced at Rs 608.
There are about 1.9 million assessees who have a taxable income of more than Rs 10 lakh, out of a total of 47 million assessees.
The annual subsidy outgo on account of LPG cylinders is about Rs 26,260 crore.
Earlier last month, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had claimed that the government has saved Rs.15,000 crore by terminating 30 million duplicate LPG connections.
