Natural gas import bill rises 16%

Soaring Demand

- Arunima Bharadwaj

INDIA'S NATURAL GAS import bill surged 16.4% to $14.2 billion during April-February of the current financial year, compared with $12.2 billion in the same period last year, driven by rising consumption, according to data from the government's petroleum planning and analysis cell. In February alone, the import bill increased by 8.3% to $1.3 billion compared with that of the year-ago period.

The country imported 34,329 million standard cubic metres (mmscm) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the first 11 months of FY25, marking a 19.4% increase over the same period in FY24. Analysts attributed this growth to rising demand and stabilised global natural gas prices, which had surged to record highs in FY23.