Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

What is Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana?

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) is a Central Sector scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas that provides deposit-free LPG (cooking gas) connections to women from poor households. The scheme was first launched on 1 May 2016, and its second phase, Ujjwala 2.0, was launched on 10 August 2021 at Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh.

According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, PMUY aims to replace polluting fuels such as firewood, coal and cow dung with clean LPG, protecting the health of women and children and reducing indoor air pollution. The connection is always issued in the name of an adult woman of the household.

PMUY has grown into one of the largest clean-energy schemes in the world. As of mid-2026, the oil marketing companies had released about 10.6 crore deposit-free connections, the original target of 8 crore was met by September 2019, a further 1.6 crore came under Ujjwala 2.0 by December 2022, another 75 lakh by July 2024, and the Union Cabinet has since sanctioned 25 lakh more connections that are being distributed now.

Key objectives

• Provide clean cooking fuel to below-poverty-line and other deprived families.
• Reduce the health risks that women and children face from smoke-filled kitchens.
• Empower women by putting the LPG connection in their own name.
• Cut down the drudgery and time spent collecting firewood.

Main features

• The LPG connection is deposit-free, the security deposit of about Rs 1,600 is borne by the government.
• Under Ujjwala 2.0, the first refill and a gas stove (hotplate) are free.
• PMUY beneficiaries get a targeted refill subsidy credited by Direct Benefit Transfer.
• The connection is issued only in the name of an adult woman.

Who is eligible for Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana?

You can apply if:

• You are an adult woman aged 18 years or older.
• No one in your household already holds an LPG connection.
• Your family belongs to one of the eligible categories: SC or ST households, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) beneficiaries, Antyodaya Anna Yojana families, forest dwellers, Most Backward Classes, tea and ex-tea garden tribes, people living on islands and river islands, SECC-listed families, or families on a state BPL list.
• Alternatively, under Ujjwala 2.0 you submit a self-declaration that your household is poor and does not have an LPG connection.

You cannot apply if:

• Any member of your family already has an LPG connection in their name.
• You are male. The connection must be in an adult woman's name.
• Your household does not fall in any eligible category and cannot give a valid poor-household self-declaration.

Because Ujjwala 2.0 accepts a self-declaration for both family composition and address, migrant families who have moved for work are specifically covered even without a local ration card.

What documents are required for Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana?

How to apply for Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana online

1. Go to the official portal at pmuy.gov.in and select Apply for New Ujjwala 2.0 Connection.
2. Choose your preferred gas company: Indane, Bharatgas or HP Gas.
3. You will be taken to that company's portal; select your state, district and nearest distributor.
4. Fill in the KYC form with your Aadhaar, personal details and bank account number and IFSC, and submit the family or self-declaration.
5. Upload the required documents and submit the form to generate a reference number.
6. The distributor will verify your details and issue the deposit-free connection with the free first refill and stove.

How to apply for Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana offline

1. Visit your nearest LPG distributor (Indane, Bharatgas or HP Gas) with your Aadhaar and bank details.
2. Collect and fill the Ujjwala KYC form, tick your eligible category and sign the declaration.
3. Submit the form with the supporting documents; migrants can attach a self-declaration in place of address proof.
4. Collect the acknowledgement and the deposit-free connection once verification is complete.

How much benefit does Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana provide?

PMUY covers the LPG security deposit of about Rs 1,600, so the woman gets the connection deposit-free. Under Ujjwala 2.0, the scheme also provides the first LPG refill and a gas stove (hotplate) free of cost through the oil marketing companies.

For ongoing use, PMUY beneficiaries receive a targeted refill subsidy of Rs 300 per 14.2 kg cylinder for up to 9 refills a year in FY 2025-26, pro-rated for the 5 kg cylinder. The Union Cabinet approved continuing this subsidy in August 2025 at a total outlay of Rs 12,000 crore. The subsidy is transferred to the beneficiary's Aadhaar-linked bank account after each cylinder is bought, so the purchase is paid in full first and the subsidy comes back by DBT. Beneficiaries who exhaust their subsidised refills for the year pay the full market price on further cylinders.

Because the subsidy reaches the bank account only when Aadhaar is correctly seeded and the mobile number is current, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas urges beneficiaries to keep their e-KYC and bank-Aadhaar linkage up to date through the distributor.

Who runs PMUY and how is it structured?

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is implemented by the three public-sector oil marketing companies — Indian Oil (Indane), Bharat Petroleum (Bharatgas) and Hindustan Petroleum (HP Gas), under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. These companies release the connections, supply the free hotplate and first refill, run the KYC verification through their distributor networks, and credit the refill subsidy by Direct Benefit Transfer.

As a Central Sector scheme, PMUY is funded entirely by the central government; states are not required to share the cost. Beneficiary identification relies on SECC 2011 data and the listed deprivation categories for the first phase, and on a self-declaration route under Ujjwala 2.0, which removed the earlier dependence on a fixed SECC list and opened the scheme to left-out poor families and migrants.

What is different about Ujjwala 2.0?

Ujjwala 2.0, launched on 10 August 2021, changed three things that had kept eligible families out of the first phase. It made the deposit-free connection come with a free first refill and a free gas stove, so a family with no cash to spare could actually start cooking on LPG. It dropped the ration-card and formal address-proof requirement, accepting a self-declaration instead, which specifically brought in migrant workers who live away from their home state. And it widened the deprivation categories so that any poor woman without an existing LPG connection could apply on a self-declaration of her household's status.

How to check your Ujjwala application status

1. Contact the distributor where you submitted the KYC form using your reference number.
2. Track connection and subsidy details through the Indane, Bharatgas or HP Gas customer portal or mobile app linked to your registered mobile number.
3. For subsidy queries, check your Aadhaar-linked bank account statement for the DBT credit after each refill.

Why Ujjwala applications get rejected or delayed

• An existing LPG connection in the family. A national de-duplication check runs against every household member's records; if any member already holds a connection, the application is refused.
• Aadhaar e-KYC not completed, so the applicant's identity cannot be verified electronically.
• Name or details mismatch between the Aadhaar, the bank account and the KYC form, which stalls both the connection and the subsidy DBT.
• Bank account not seeded with Aadhaar, so the refill subsidy has no valid destination.
• Incomplete self-declaration, the family-composition or deprivation declaration left blank or unsigned under the Ujjwala 2.0 route.
• Ineligible category. A household that is not poor and cannot make a valid deprivation self-declaration.

Most defects can be fixed at the distributor where the KYC form was submitted; there is no separate appeal fee.

Help and grievance redressal

• Ujjwala helpline (toll-free): 1800-266-6696
• LPG emergency helpline: 1906
• Distributor: your nearest Indane, Bharatgas or HP Gas dealer handles new connections, refills and stove issues.

The Ujjwala connection and the first refill are provided free of cost. No agent or distributor can charge a fee to add your name to the scheme, and the refill subsidy always comes to your own bank account.