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New Delhi: Restaurants and hotels across the country, especially in cities like Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai, may be forced to shut operations if the ongoing crisis caused by the shortage of commercial LPG cylinders continues, associations representing the sector said on Tuesday, seeking urgent government intervention on the issue.

Speaking to PTI, National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) President Sagar Daryani shared that restaurants are already contemplating getting into limited menu or operating at different hours.

"At the moment people have (LPG cylinder) stocks for 1-2 days. If they don't get supplies in 1-2 days then these restaurants will have to shut down and this is largely in cities like Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai. A lot of panic is being created and obviously this will spread across the country," Daryani said.

"Ultimately if this (LPG cylinders) is not made available it will lead to a lot of job losses, many restaurants will shut down, may be permanently because they don't have enough of capital to keep the losses continuing," he added.

In a letter to Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday, NRAI said the restaurant industry continues to face tough challenges to maintain operations because of disruption in supply of commercial LPG.

It urged the government to issue a clarification regarding the supply of commercial LPG for the restaurant industry as an essential service.
NRAI also issued an advisory to member restaurants asking them to tweak menus and adopt LPG conservation measures.

"Yesterday we figured that in many places, especially Bengaluru and Pune, there was a lot of hoarding and black marketing and the prices (of LPG cylinders) also went up by 1.5 times. However, our worry is the question mark over the availability of LPG cylinders for restaurants. Our request to the government is that LPG cylinders should be made available with uninterrupted supply for restaurants and hotels," Daryani said.

He shared that 85 per cent restaurants depend on LPG cylinders for preparing food.

LPG supply disruptions are being reported from Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Pradeep Shetty, Vice President, Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) said.

Amid the West Asia crisis, the government has revised the priority order for allocating domestically produced natural gas, placing LPG production alongside CNG and piped cooking gas at the top. This has led to supply crunch for hotels and restaurants which use market priced commercial LPG.

The shortage of commercial LPG has become extremely serious over the past week, with intermittent disruptions escalating into a near complete halt in supply in several regions since Monday, said Shetty, who is also the Spokesperson, Hotel and Restaurant Association (Western India) - HRAWI.

"We are already receiving reports of severe shortages from cities including Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad and Nagpur, while similar disruptions are being reported in states such as Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. If the situation does not improve within the next two days, nearly 50 per cent of hotels and restaurants in Mumbai may be forced to temporarily shut operations depending on the stock of cylinders they currently have," he cautioned.

This will especially affect international tourists. Also, smaller and medium-sized eateries will be the first to be impacted, as they typically operate with limited reserves, Shetty stated.

He observed that while alternatives such as electric or induction-based cooking are gradually emerging, they are not yet viable for most commercial kitchens that rely on high-intensity, fast-paced cooking methods typical of Indian cuisine.

"Transitioning to such systems also involves significant cost and infrastructure changes. At present, the industry has no practical alternative and urgently requires restoration of uninterrupted commercial LPG supply to ensure that hotels, restaurants and food service establishments can continue operating without disruption," Shetty said.

Meanwhile, the oil ministry has constituted a committee to examine supply issues after a sudden shortage of commercial LPG cylinders alarmed the hospitality sector, with restaurant associations warning that eateries could shut down within days if supplies are not restored.