India's demand for liquefied petroleum gas will grow by close to 9 per cent to 10.73 million tonnes in 2004-05, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

"The demand for LPG during 2002-03 and 2003-04 was 8.35 million tonnes and 9.3 million tonnes, respectively," Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said in a written reply.

LPG consumption grew by more than 16 per cent to 0.77 million tonnes in June this year as opposed to 0.66 million tonnes in the same month the previous year.

The total quantity of LPG imported during 2002-03 and 2003-04 was 1.07 million tonnes and 1.7 million tonnes, respectively.

"The price of imported LPG has been in the range of 210-330 dollars per metric tonne during 2003-04," he said.

LPG was imported mainly from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Malaysia.

LPG bottling plants: To another question, Aiyar said six new LPG bottling plants are proposed to be set up at Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh), Bangalore (Karnataka), Mualkhang (Mizoram), Sekmai (Manipur), Vasai and Mahul (Maharashtra) and Rahukhadi (Madhya Pradesh).

"The present bottling capacity of oil marketing companies is sufficient to meet the present demand," he said.