Abhishek Jain, Shalu Agrawal, Karthik Ganesan
April 2016 | Energy Transitions
Suggested Citation: Jain, Abhishek, Shalu Agrawal, and Karthik Ganesan. 2016. DBTL Performance Evaluation: Insights from the World’s Largest Subsidy Benefit Transfer Scheme. New Delhi: Council on Energy, Environment and Water.
The modified Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) scheme was launched in January 2015 to provide LPG subsidies directly into consumers’ bank accounts. The Council, in collaboration with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), conducted an independent performance evaluation of the scheme across Gujarat, Haryana and Kerala. The evaluation focused on assessing the efficacy of the scheme against its stated objectives and its implementation process, as well as the experiences of key stakeholders with the scheme’s implementation and impact.
India has a mammoth 164 million active LPG connections. However, well-to-do households remain the primary beneficiaries, with 40 per cent of the LPG subsidy benefitting the richest 20 per cent.
The analysis, the first of a two-part series, found that the scheme’s implementation was fairly successful with high levels of enrolment and customer satisfaction. 85 per cent of the distributors surveyed reported significant impact of the scheme on controlling both the diversion of cylinders and the multiple connections.
Since 2015, government has initiated reforms such as the ‘Give it Up’ campaign (nudging the well-off to voluntarily surrender their subsidy claims) and DBTL to improve the targeting of subsidies and reduce leakages. The first phase of the ACCESS Survey, had found that 95 per cent of rural households without LPG cited their inability to afford an LPG connection as a major barrier to switching to cleaner cooking fuels.
Source: HPGas/Flickr
Source: CEEW analysis, 2016