IGL raises Delhi CNG by ₹3.89 to ₹86.98 as LNG stays high

Indraprastha Gas Limited raised compressed natural gas prices by Rs 3.89 a kilogram across its network from 6 a.m. on Saturday. In Delhi the pump price is now Rs 86.98, up from Rs 83.09. In Noida and Ghaziabad it is Rs 95.59. Meerut is at Rs 95.47. Gurugram is at Rs 92.01.

IGL called the move a calibrated offset against imported LNG. A large share of the gas that becomes city CNG is bought on the international spot market. The company said those cargoes have nearly doubled from their level before the West Asia war, and that Europe is competing for the same molecules as it fills storage ahead of winter. Movement through the Strait of Hormuz remains irregular. Friday's increase is the fifth since that war began and the first since May, when IGL raised prices by Rs 6 in four steps over ten days.

CNG still undercuts petrol and diesel on a per-kilometre basis in Delhi. That gap is narrower than it was in April. Auto-rickshaws, taxis and a large share of private hatchbacks in the capital run on the fuel. A Rs 3.89 jump is felt on Monday morning, not in a quarterly results note. Fleet owners who bid for app-cab work on thin margins will pass some of it on. Private owners will notice it at the same pumps where they have already watched five separate boards change this year.

IGL is the largest city-gas firm in north India. It cannot set the landed cost of a Qatari or American cargo. It can choose how much of that cost to take on the margin and how much to print on the dispenser. Saturday's number says the margin is no longer wide enough to absorb another month of Hormuz risk.

The same week, wholesale milk sellers in Mumbai warned that prices were heading through Rs 100 a litre. Sugar mills have been told to hold the line on ex-mill rates. Household fuel and food are moving together. CNG is the one of those three that the capital's transport system cannot substitute in a week. Until LNG cargoes cheapen, the next IGL note will be another increment, not a reversal.