Almost 40% of Indian households still depend on polluting solid fuels like firewood, animal dung and charcoal for their cooking needs, despite near-universal coverage of LPG connections across the country. The continued use of these fuels poses serious health risks to women and children due to indoor pollution.
The figure comes from the National Family Health Survey 2019-21, according to a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. With India’s total households estimated at 299.7 million, this means roughly 120 million households continue to cook with solid fuels.
Using solid fuels not only takes away productive time but also poses serious health risks to women and children due to indoor pollution, the report said.
The health impact is compounded by rising greenhouse gas emissions. India’s emissions from residential sector increased by more than 40% between 2010 and 2015 due to the use of LPG, kerosene and other fuels for cooking and lighting. This would have likely increased further after 2015, with rising penetration and consumption of both LPG and PNG, the report noted.
The problem is concentrated in rural areas. Use of clean cooking fuels in urban areas increased from around 89% to 93% between FY2018-19 to FY2022-23. In rural areas, it remained at around 50% in the same period.
This means half of rural households continue to use solid fuels despite the government’s massive push to promote clean cooking through the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. The scheme has provided 103 million deposit-free LPG connections to below poverty line households since 2016.
The disconnect stems from affordability concerns. PMUY customers use only 4.47 cylinder refills annually, well below the estimated requirement of eight cylinders per year. This means they potentially use firewood or biomass for the rest of their cooking needs, the report said.
Even with heavy subsidies, the annual cost for a family of four under the PMUY scheme comes to Rs 4,024 in FY2024-25 if LPG alone is used for cooking purposes.
“The widespread promotion of LPG over the decades has been done as a solution to the problem of using harmful solid fuels, especially among the poor in both urban and rural areas. However, there are households that still depend on solid fuels, indicating an urgent need to switch to e-cooking for at least urban areas as a starting point,” the report said.
Electricity-based cooking offers a health-focused alternative. E-cooking produces no indoor air pollution, significantly improving health outcomes for women and children in comparison to solid fuels like firewood, animal dung and charcoal.
E-cooking also has the added advantage of no release of nitrogen dioxide or carbon monoxide, offering massive health benefits, safety and energy efficiency, according to the report.
The comparison with gas-based fuels also favors e-cooking on emissions. LPG and PNG are carbon-intensive fuels that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. With ongoing massive deployment of renewable energy, including solar rooftops in India and greening of the grid, e-cooking can be a completely green solution.
India plans to achieve 500 gigawatts of non-fossil capacity by 2030 and had already deployed a total of 256 GW of non-fossil power till September 2025. In addition, 148 GW of renewable energy projects are under construction as of September 2025.
“Moving towards e-cooking is the logical step since almost 100% of Indian households have access to electricity, with a relatively stable supply in urban areas,” the report said.
Shifting urban areas to e-cooking could help solve the rural problem. By reducing demand for LPG and PNG in urban areas, more of these limited resources could be redirected to rural areas. The report discusses the limited availability of LPG and PNG-related resources such as bottling capacity, distributors, and base fuel like propane and natural gas which need to be freed up for rural areas.
The current bottling capacity can support about 1.6 billion cylinders annually, while the total requirement for 330 million households would be 2.6 billion cylinders in a year, assuming eight refills per household per year. This means the annual capacity will fall short by almost 38% for household needs.
“Ultimately, electrifying India’s cooking needs, starting with urban areas, represents a transformative opportunity. It can free up limited fossil fuel resources for rural and hard-to-reach areas, reduce import dependence, alleviate fiscal stress from rising subsidies, and significantly improve public health and environmental outcomes,” the report said.
The transition requires addressing barriers of high upfront costs, limited device options, and lack of awareness about e-cooking benefits.
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