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As Indians Queue for Cooking Gas, a Black Market Is Growing
Amid delays and shortages in India's cooking gas supply, a black market has emerged in Delhi where cylinders are sold at up to four times the official price. Authorities have launched raids and seizures, but the government denies any supply crisis, attributing the situation to misinformation.
By Tertius News AI Desk2 distinct · 2 mastheads · 2 articlesVersion 1Coverage Published
Coverage Comparison
As Indian authorities ramp up efforts to curb illegal trade in cooking gas, a parallel black market appears to be thriving in Delhi, where consumers face delays of days or weeks for official supplies. Reports from ABC Australia and Dawn, two outlets covering the crisis from different vantage points, paint a picture of a system under pressure — with a government that insists supplies are secure and critics pointing to a widening gap between official assurances and on-the-ground reality.
In Hyderabad, police seized 414 cooking-gas canisters hidden in a graveyard and detained those involved in trying to sell them on the black market, according to a government official cited by Dawn. The official, Sujata Sharma of India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said the crackdown is part of a broader effort to curb hoarding as the US-Israeli war against Iran disrupts shipping routes.
India meets about 60 per cent of its demand for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) through overseas purchases, mostly from the Middle East, according to both Dawn and ABC Australia. The Strait of Hormuz, a critical passage for that supply, has been squeezed by the conflict.
While Dawn's focus is on government enforcement — reporting about 2,600 raids and around 700 cylinders seized in a single day — ABC Australia's coverage centres on the consumer experience in Delhi, where a thriving black market offers faster access but at exorbitant prices.
The crisis comes as India, the world's second-largest LPG importer, faces supply disruptions from the US-Israeli war on Iran. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a key route for Middle Eastern LPG — has been affected, raising concerns about availability. While the government insists that domestic supply is assured, the gaps between official claims and consumer reports suggest a complex, evolving situation. ABC Australia's investigation indicates that those who can afford it are turning to the black market, while others wait in frustration. The full extent of the shortage remains uncertain, and the effectiveness of government measures is yet to be fully assessed.
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Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimIndian police seized 414 cooking-gas canisters hidden in a graveyard in Hyderabad city and arrested those involved in trying to sell them on the black market amid shortages due to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
ClaimCommercial canisters were being sold at nearly three times the current market price on the black market.
ConfidenceHigh
StatusMulti-source quoted from Dawnthe outlets behind this status were not recorded for this claim
ClaimDelays in access to cooking gas are driving consumers to informal markets, where gas is available more quickly but at significantly higher prices.
ConfidenceMedium
StatusMulti-source quoted from ABC Australiathe outlets behind this status were not recorded for this claim
ClaimQueues for cooking gas in Delhi are causing frustration among residents, with some waiting days or weeks for cylinders.
ClaimA black market for cooking gas exists in Delhi, with cylinders being sold at prices significantly higher than the official price.
ConfidenceHigh
StatusMulti-source quoted from ABC Australiathe outlets behind this status were not recorded for this claim
ClaimPolice in Delhi carried out 76 raids between March 1 and March 26, registering 22 cases and seizing more than 1,700 cylinders in a crackdown on alleged hoarding and illegal diversion.