On Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that domestic LPG production is being increased to ensure cooking gas supplies to households, as imports have been disrupted due to the ongoing war in West Asia.
India has sufficient fertilizer availability for the upcoming Kharif season and will soon begin bidding for crop nutrients for the winter Rabi crop, according to the minister.
Responding to a debate on the second batch of supplementary demands for grants in the Rajya Sabha, Sitharaman also informed that the government would be clearing oil bonds worth Rs 1.48 lakh crore issued during the UPA government to oil marketing companies in exchange for cash subsidies on petroleum products. These bonds carried interest rates between 7 and 8.4 percent.
Regarding LPG shortages, Sitharaman said that India imports nearly 65 percent of its requirements.
"The Middle East crisis presents a new challenge. Over 90 percent of the 65 percent LPG imports come from the Strait of Hormuz. As a result, there were concerns about whether we would have access to it.
"There are reports indicating that we are ensuring a steady supply during these challenging times," she said.
Sitharaman stated that the Prime Minister's emphasis on self-reliance and increasing production to meet the country's basic needs has benefited India.
She said that the country has significantly developed its power sector, which supports various needs.
The installed power generation capacity has more than doubled since 2014, and there are no energy shortages now, she added.
"Even in the LPG sector, we have been increasing capacity, and at this time, the effort to ramp up domestic LPG production is also proving helpful," Sitharaman added.
On March 8, the government directed oil refineries and petrochemical complexes to maximize LPG production by diverting propane, butane, propylene, and butadiene streams to the LPG pool.
"As a result, we are also ramping up domestic capacity to supply LPG, and domestic LPG production is increasing by about 25 percent," she said.
The entire output of this increased capacity will be supplied to domestic consumers.
"Therefore, to ensure that households do not suffer, not only a steady flow of shipments but also domestic production of LPG is being ramped up by diverting from other hydrocarbon materials," she said.
"As a result, domestic supplies will be adequately streamlined, and supplies will remain steady," the minister said in the House, which later returned the second batch of supplementary demands for grants to the Lok Sabha with a voice vote.
She further stated that the ability to ramp up 25 percent LPG production overnight, the availability of alternative energy sources, and the reduced share of fossil fuels in the overall energy mix have not happened by chance.
"The Government of India's steady and policy-backed approach has actually enabled us to suddenly improve on something so that any situation, in which any additional support can happen. This is the result of a decade-long energy transition strategy launched by the Prime Minister in 2014," she said.
Non-fossil electricity stands at 271.97 GW, accounting for more than 52 percent of the total capacity, and surpassing the fossil fuel capacity of 248.5 GW, she informed the House.
For the first time in Indian history, non-fossil capacity exceeded fossil fuel power generation.
The minister further said that the massive hidden borrowing programs of the UPA government during that period cannot be ignored.
"I mention this today because many of these borrowings are being repaid by us now. The issue is that these borrowings were not reflected in the budget at that time," she said.
Had these liabilities been transparently included in the budget, the fiscal deficit numbers would have been very different, she said.
Consequently, the growth projections and actual growth figures would not have appeared as strong as they were shown if the budget accounting had been transparent.
"...in fact, this month, we would be clearing up all the oil bonds, which were issued by the UPA government," the finance minister said.
Sitharaman also said that the proposed Economic Stabilization Fund will provide fiscal headroom for India.
"How am I able to do? Having created the fiscal headroom, I'm able to allow India to respond to the global headwinds, such as the recent crisis. We are able to mobilize that kind of money because the headroom is available.
"Imagine in 2014, would I have had the comfort? No, because I'm recapitalizing banks, I'm paying loans, I'm lifting the economy from where they have left the fragile five. So, the economy today is a totally different thing," she said.
The minister emphasized that the reality is that the economy today is far more transparent and robust than the so-called "rosy" period of the past, which was supported by off-budget accounting practices.
Parliament has now approved the second batch of supplementary demands for grants, allowing the government to spend an additional Rs 2.01 lakh crore in the current fiscal after the Rajya Sabha returned the Appropriation Bill 2026 to the Lok Sabha.
The government had sought Parliament's approval for spending a gross of Rs 2.81 lakh crore extra in the current fiscal year. With additional receipts of Rs 80,000 crore estimated for the current fiscal year in the supplementary, the net additional cash spending will be Rs 2.01 lakh crore.
The Lok Sabha passed the demand for grants on March 13.