'MGL' Hikes Gas Prices Again; CNG at Rs 89.50

State-owned utility Mahanagar Gas on Friday announced yet another increase in retail prices of auto fuels and cooking gas, citing rising input costs and short supply of gas. This is the second revision since October when the Centre had increased the price of domestically produced gas, supplied with an administered price mechanism (APM), by 40 per cent for the second half of the fiscal, which came atop a 110 per cent spike in April for the first half. On April 1, CNG was priced at Rs 60/kg and piped cooking gas was at Rs 36/SCM.

The prices were so low after the state government had slashed the VAT on these fuels from 13.5 per cent to 3.50 per cent, leading to MGL cutting CNG price by Rs 6/kg and PNG by Rs 3.50. To offset the price increase along with the fall in the rupee, MGL has said it is revising upwards the retail price of CNG (compressed natural gas) by Rs 3.50/kg to Rs 89.50 and that of domestic piped natural gas (PNG) by Rs 1.50 per SCM to Rs 54 effective this midnight.

On shortage in the supply of APM gas, MGL said the supply has been cut by 10 per cent, forcing it to source the fuels from outside at a substantially higher cost as the demand for gas has not come down yet. MGL claimed that even at the revised level CNG is about 42 per cent cheaper than petrol in the megapolis, while PNG is cheaper by around 8 per cent compared to current LPG.

(PTI )