Reports suggest that demand for auto gas or auto liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has risen in the last few months. Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) say the upswing in auto LPG growth augurs well for both the consumers and oil companies.

OMCs attribute the rise in demand for auto gas to the government’s decision to cap the number of subsidised LPG cylinders per household per year.

It may be noted that in September 2012, government capped the number of subsidised LPG per household per year to six. The number was raised to nine recently.

The volume of IndianOil Corp in the auto gas segment rose around 22 per cent and its market share jumped nearly 2 per cent. It traded nearly 10,517 million tonne (mn t) of auto gas in December against 8,593 mn t of auto gas in September.

Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) saw a nearly 13 per cent jump each in volumes, while losing market share by one per cent.

In December 2012, BPCL traded 4,490 mn t of auto LPG against 3,986 mn t in September, while HPCL traded 4,788 mn t in December against 4,239 mn t in September.

The rise in auto gas comes despite the increase in auto LPG prices, said N Srikumar, executive director, corporate communication and branding at IndianOil.

Auto gas prices rose almost 17 per cent from Rs 41.08 to Rs 47.92 per litre in Delhi between September and December. In Mumbai, the same has registered an almost 16 per cent growth, from Rs 45.08 to Rs 52.28 per litre.