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The public sector oil marketing companies have succeeded in blocking a significant number of multiple LPG connections in the last six months. Of the just over 14 crore cooking gas connections in the country, 10-15 per cent were multiple connections held by a single customer, distributors say.
These connections have been blocked through the Know Your Customer (KYC) scheme, which was meant to help the OMCs identify those with more than one connection. As on April 1, the OMCs had successfully verified almost 75 per cent of such customers.
Customer base
To begin with, the KYC form was only for multiple connection holders belonging to the ‘Same Name, Same Address’ (SNSA) category, which has now been extended to ‘Different Name, Same Address’ (DNSA).
Of the total customer base, about 2.43 crore fell in the DNSA category. Of this 2.43 crore, the companies have verified 1.81 crore against KYC criteria, an oil company executive told Business Line . Of the 1.81 crore, the number of genuine customers is 1.75 crore.
KYC norms are the first step towards smooth implementation of the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) of subsidised domestic LPG, as it helps identify customers in each segment and ensures that the capping of subsidised cylinders to nine a year per household is implemented smoothly.
Now, with the KYC system in place, OMCs are preparing to collect Aadhaar numbers from customers for the rollout of DBT, planned to be introduced from May 15. The Prime Ministers’ Office is constantly reviewing the progress and an inter-ministerial meeting on the issue is likely on Thursday.
Aadhaar sync
The PMO wants the Ministry for Petroleum and Natural Gas to obtain the Cabinet approvals required for the smooth roll-out of LPG subsidy through DBT, initially in 20 districts.
The main challenge in implementing the scheme is ensuring that the consumer database with OMCs and the bank accounts of consumers are synchronised with Aadhaar numbers.
But as the chosen districts are part of the original list of 43 included in phase-I, Aadhaar enrolment in these districts is quite high.
Aadhaar seeding in OMC databases has risen considerably in the last four months, the companies said.
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