IGL raises Delhi CNG by Rs 3.89 a kg as Hormuz keeps LNG expensive

Indraprastha Gas Ltd raised compressed natural gas prices by Rs 3.89 a kilogram across its network from 6 a.m. on Saturday, 29 August. In Delhi the new retail rate is Rs 86.98 a kg, up from Rs 83.09. The company said the step offsets only part of the jump in imported liquefied natural gas costs after cargo traffic through the Strait of Hormuz tightened again.

Neighbourhood rates moved with Delhi. Noida and Ghaziabad now stand at Rs 95.59 a kg. Gurugram is Rs 92.01. Rewari is Rs 91.59. Karnal is Rs 91.32. Kanpur, Hamirpur and Fatehpur are Rs 98.31. Ajmer, Pali and Rajsamand are Rs 96.33. The spread tracks state value-added tax, not a different wholesale gas price.

The Hindu recorded this as the fifth IGL increase since the West Asia conflict began. From the start of 2026, when Delhi CNG sold at Rs 77.09 a kg, the cumulative rise is close to Rs 10. Four increments in the second half of May added Rs 6 and took the city to Rs 83.09 before Saturday's change.

IGL's statement tied the latest move to two facts. First, a large share of the molecules that end up in city CNG now arrives as spot LNG rather than as cheap domestic gas. Second, global LNG prices have nearly doubled against the pre-crisis baseline, in the company's own phrasing, because ships have had to reroute or wait around Hormuz and because European buyers are filling storage before winter. IGL said European restocking adds urgency on the same cargoes India wants.

The company still argues that CNG undercuts petrol and diesel for private cars and for fleets. That comparison holds on a per-kilometre basis in Delhi even at Rs 86.98, which is why auto-rickshaws, many taxis and the city bus fleet remain on gas. The squeeze is on households and operators who already absorbed the May round and now face another 4.6 percent overnight.

City gas companies cannot pass every spike at once. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board watches retail revisions. IGL called this one calibrated. The word is a signal that another revision remains possible if spot LNG stays high through September and October, when European storage targets usually tighten the market further.

Delhi's CNG system is a court-built market. The Supreme Court ordered the city's buses, taxis and autos onto gas at the turn of the century to cut particulate matter. IGL grew as the monopoly retailer in the National Capital Territory and then as the dominant supplier in a ring of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan licences. That history means a Hormuz disruption shows up at a filling station in Karol Bagh and at a depot in Rajghat on the same morning.

The input mix is the weak point. Domestic gas allocated to transport is limited. Fast demand growth in the licensed areas has forced IGL onto the spot window. When that window doubles in price, the retail formula has nowhere else to go. The company said even after Saturday's change, Delhi remains among the cheapest CNG cities in importing countries. That claim is about international comparison. It does not change the fact that a driver who filled at Rs 77 in January now pays almost Rs 10 more for the same kilogram.

Commercial fleets will recast fares if they can. Autos and taxis in Delhi operate under fare notifications that lag fuel moves. Bus contracts with the Delhi Transport Corporation are separate and already assume CNG. The next visible effect for passengers is likely to be a demand for a fare revision rather than a change in the fuel itself.

West Asia is the variable that IGL cannot hedge completely. If Hormuz traffic normalises, spot LNG will ease and the company can hold the new rate. If cargoes stay scarce into the European winter, Saturday's increase will read as an interim line on a longer invoice.