Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum have begun offering the price discount to cooking gas customers, the oil ministry has said in a statement. Customers can pay using net banking, credit and debit cards at the time of online booking, it said. The discounted amount will be seen on customers' screens as well as the cash memo accompanying the cylinder. 

 

India has about 21 crore cooking gas consumers and most of them pay by cash currently. 

 

"The incentive will encourage more and more liquefied petroleum gas consumers to go for cashless mode of transactions," the statement said. 

 

State oil companies are already offering 0.75% discount on the purchase of petrol and diesel to customers paying digitally. These efforts are in line with the Narendra Modi-led government's thrust on reducing the use of cash in the economy.