Mumbai,   For the second time in 3 weeks, the Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL) has hiked the prices of CNG and PNG with effect from midnight, an official said here on Friday.

The basic price of CNG is increased by Rs 2/kg and domestic PNG by Rs 1.50/SCM for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

Accordingly, the revised all-inclusive prices of CNG that fuels vehicles will go up from Rs 61.50/kg to Rs 63.50/kg, and the home use PNG shall shoot up from Rs 36.50/SCM to Rs 38/SCM, said an MGL spokesperson.

Justifying the hike, the MGL said in order to meet the shortfall in domestic gas allocation, the company is sourcing additional market-priced natural gas (imported RLNG) to cater to the increasing demands for both CNG and PNG.

Due to the substantial increase in the prices of imported RLNG, the MGL's input gas cost has also gone up considerably and the fresh hike for consumers is expected to partly offset its costs.

The revision comes after November 27 - when the MGL increased the rates of CNG by Rs 3.06/kg and PNG by Rs 2.26/SCM - hitting hard the 1.60 million PNG consumers and over 800,000 CNG customers using gas-powered vehicles.

Incidentally, the MGL had increased the CNG-PNG prices twice in October, ahead of the festival season.

However, the MGL has assured that despite the fresh hikes, the CNG offers attractive savings of around 60 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively, compared with petrol and diesel at current prices, and PNG saves around 24 percent in comparison with the prices of domestic LPG cylinders.