The government will phase out subsidies on LPG and kerosene by March 2007, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Sumitra Mahajan said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
"The government proposes to phase out the subsidy on LPG and kerosene in three to five years effective April 1, 2002," Mahajan said.
While the subsidy on LPG was Rs 3,691 crore (Rs 36.91 billion), kerosene had a subsidy of Rs 3,018 crore (Rs 30.18 billion) in 2002-03, she added.
"For the current fiscal, the subsidy on LPG will come down to Rs 2,772 crore if the three-year schedule for phasing out the entire subsidy is implemented. If the subsidy is phased out in five years, the outgo on LPG this fiscal would be Rs 3,326 crore (Rs 33.26 billion)," she said.