Every meal begins in the kitchen, but for millions of Indian households, that comfort hides a quiet crisis. Most of us carry fond memories of our kitchens, the smell of rotis puffing on the tawa, the rhythm of a ladle in dal, a mother or grandmother cooking late into the night before a journey or an exam. The kitchen is a space of care, nourishment, and love. Yet, for many families, it is also where invisible harm lingers in the air they breathe.

According to the State of Global Air 2025 report, household air pollution from cooking fuels caused an estimated 2.8 million deaths globally in 2023. In India, air pollution including household cooking smoke was responsible for more than 2 million deaths in 2023, making it one of the country’s largest public health risks [i].

Globally, more than 2 billion people still rely on kerosene, wood, dung, or coal for cooking. These fuels release toxic smoke containing fine particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide, black carbon, and carcinogenic gases such as benzene and formaldehyde [ii]. In poorly ventilated homes, this indoor air pollution can be deadlier than the air outside: damaging lungs, increasing the risk of heart disease, and clouding indoor air with soot. For millions of women and children, the kitchen becomes the most polluted room in the house.

When the Air Inside Becomes the Enemy

Household air pollution is as much a public health emergency and a gender equity issue as it is an energy access problem. The World Health Organization now estimates that household air pollution caused an estimated 2.9 million deaths globally in 2021, including more than 309,000 deaths in children under the age of five [iii]. The burden falls disproportionately on women and children, who spend the most time near the stove, inhaling harmful fumes that increase their risk of respiratory infections, heart disease, and premature death.

The cost is not only measured in health but also in time. According to a report published by the Clean Cooking Alliance on Gender and Livelihoods Impacts of Clean Cookstoves in South Asia, women across India spend an average of 374 hours a year collecting firewood amounting to over 15 days of labour lost every year [iv]. A 2019 National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) time-use study also found that women perform over 80 percent of household cooking and fuel collection work in rural India [v].

Clean cooking is therefore about far more than modernising kitchens. It is about saving lives, empowering women, and protecting the planet.

The Road Beyond LPG

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) entered Indian kitchens in the 1960s, driven by the vision of Keshav Dev Malviya, often called the Father of the Indian petroleum industry to modernise household cooking and improve public health. Decades later, it finds renewed momentum through the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).

Since its launch, PMUY has provided LPG connections to over 103.3 million households, dramatically expanding access to cleaner cooking fuel [vi]. Importantly, these connections are issued in the name of women from low-income families, recognising their central role in the household energy use. The result include fewer hours spent collecting firewood and a tangible improvement in indoor air quality.

Yet, LPG is not the endpoint. High refill costs, supply inconsistencies in remote areas, and India’s dependence on imported gas mean many households still revert to traditional fuels between refills. Even in urban India, low-income families in informal settlements often continue to rely on kerosene or biomass due to affordability and infrastructure gaps. The next phase of India’s clean cooking journey must move beyond LPG, toward solutions that are cleaner, cost-effective, and powered by domestic renewable energy.

The Case for Induction Cooking

Imagine a kitchen with no smoke, no refills, and no waiting — just instant heat at the touch of a button. Induction cooking offers precisely that. Fast, efficient, and smokeless induction cooktops run on electricity, which is increasingly coming from renewable sources such as solar and wind. This makes e-cooking a natural bridge between clean energy and clean air, capable of improving health while advancing India’s climate goals.

For Indian households, practicality is key. Families that cook large meals daily need two-burner stoves, not single hotplates. Lately, two-burner induction cooktops are now becoming more affordable, bringing large-scale adoption within reach.

Yet barriers like affordability and reliability persist. A 2021 study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) found that high upfront costs, frequent power outages, and limited awareness continue to restrict e-cooking adoption, especially in rural areas [vii]. Many households remain hesitant to shift fully to electric cooking despite recognising the health and convenience benefits.

Real Barriers to Adoption

Adoption barriers are not only infrastructural but also cultural and practical. Certain staples of Indian cooking do not translate seamlessly to induction. Roti-making, relies on an open flame for the final puff. Induction cooking also requires flat, ferromagnetic cookware, rendering many aluminum vessels and curved-bottom kadais incompatible.

These are not dealbreakers, but they are real user-experience frictions. Successful transitions will require cookware support, technique adaptation, and honest communication. Many households already adopt hybrid practices—using induction for dal and sabzi while finishing rotis on LPG. Recognising and supporting such adaptive behaviours will be essential to sustained adoption.

The 25-Amp Infrastructure Gap

Infrastructurally, induction cooking typically requires a 25-amp electrical connection, far beyond what many rural households currently have. While village electrification has reached near-universal coverage, most homes operate on 5-amp or 10-amp connections designed only for lighting and fans.

Upgrading millions of households to higher-capacity connections is not a marginal policy tweak. It will require transformer upgrades, strengthening last-mile wiring, new meters and circuit breakers, and improved grid stability to prevent voltage fluctuations: a multi-year infrastructure marathon that will demand coordination between state utilities, rural electrification agencies, and local governments.

The Saubhagya scheme succeeded in bringing electricity to homes; the next phase must focus on improving the quality of that connection. Based on past electrification timelines, a nationwide upgrade to support induction cooking could take five to ten years even with sustained investment. In the interim, partial and hybrid cooking transitions will remain necessary.

Why Women Must Be at the Centre

Cooking remains one of the most time-intensive daily activities for women in India. This makes household energy access a gender and development issue. The burden is not only physical, but also economical and social, limiting opportunities for education and income generation.

The solution must lead with empowerment, not protectionism, to ignite women’s agency. Gender-responsive budgeting and programme design can ensure women are central to decision-making, implementation, and entrepreneurship in clean cooking. Evidence shows that women-led energy initiatives achieve higher adoption rates, greater community trust, and stronger maintenance outcomes. [viii], [ix], [x]

Women’s self-help groups have proven especially effective in building trust, addressing cooking-specific concerns, and normalising new technologies through shared learning.

Recognising women as economic actors, not just beneficiaries. From local induction stove retailers to service technicians and energy entrepreneurs, clean cooking can create livelihoods while improving health outcomes. When women shape how technologies are introduced, explained, and supported, adoption becomes a social process rather than a top-down mandate.

Placing women at the centre of clean cooking is therefore not just fair policy. It is operationally smart.

Conclusion: Cooking the Future of India

The kitchen is where India’s next energy transition truly begins. It holds the power to transform public health, gender equity, and climate action all at once. LPG was a revolutionary step, but it cannot be the endpoint. To achieve universal access to clean cooking by 2030 and meet national climate targets, India must move toward solutions that are renewable, affordable, and inclusive.

The Path Ahead

India’s clean cooking future is within reach, but it will not arrive through a single technology or a single policy push. It will require coordination, sustained investment, and a phased approach that reflects household realities.

Affordability and Adaptation: Pair targeted subsidies for induction stoves with support for compatible cookware and hands-on demonstration programmes. Helping households adapt cooking techniques, rather than assuming instant behavioural change, will be critical to long-term adoption.

Infrastructure, in Phases: Commit to a multi-year upgrade of household electrical connections, prioritising areas with relatively stable supply. A nationwide transition to 25-amp connections is a five-to-ten-year undertaking and must be planned as such, not assumed to be immediate.

Hybrid Transitions, Not Absolutes: Recognise that many households will rely on a mix of induction, LPG, and improved biomass stoves during the transition period. Policy should support all pathways that measurably reduce indoor air pollution, rather than mandate a single end-state prematurely.

Women as System Actors: Move beyond beneficiary models by enabling women’s self-help groups and local entrepreneurs to lead distribution, training, servicing, and financing of clean cooking solutions. This improves trust, uptake, and system durability.

Sequencing and Scale: Pilot induction-led cooking transitions where infrastructure is ready, learn from early adopters, and scale gradually. A staged rollout allows technology, grids, and practices to co-evolve rather than fail under unrealistic expectations.

With collective action from government, industry, and communities, the kitchen can evolve from a source of risk to a source of renewal.

References 

[i] Health Effects Institute. (2025). State of Global Air 2025: A report on air pollution and its role in the world’s leading causes of death. Boston, MA: Health Effects Institute. Retrieved from https://www.stateofglobalair.org/resources/report/state-global-air-report-2025

[ii] International Energy Agency. (2022). World Energy Outlook 2022. Retrieved from https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2022

[iii] World Health Organization. (2025). Household air pollution and health – Fact Sheet. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health

[iv] Clean Cooking Alliance. (n.d.). Gender and Livelihoods Impacts of Clean Cookstoves in South Asia. Retrieved from https://cleancooking.org/resources

[v] National Statistical Office (NSO). (2020, September 29). Press note on NSS report: Time Use in India-2019 (January–December 2019). Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India. Retrieved from https://www.mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/press_release/PRESS%20NOTE%20on%20TUS-%202019.pdf

[vi] Press Information Bureau, Government of India. (2024). Government Steps to Ensure Affordable LPG. Retrieved from https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2118208 

[vii] Council on Energy, Environment and Water. (2023). Clean Electric Cooking Transition in Indian Homes. Retrieved from https://www.ceew.in/sites/default/files/ceew-study-on-clean-electric-cooking-transition-in-indian-homes.pdf

[viii] ENERGIA. 2020. Women’s Energy Entrepreneurship: A Guiding Framework and Evidence Review. Retrieved from https://www.energia.org/assets/2020/02/RA7-Womens-Energy-Entrepreneurship-Evidence-Report-Final.pdf

[ix] ENERGIA. 2024. Gender Equality and Social Inclusion: Lessons and Good Practices from Clean Cooking Programmes. Retrieved from https://energia.org/assets/2024/10/Gender-equality-and-Social-Inclusion-Lessons-and-Good-Practices-from-Clean-Cooking-Programmes.pdf

[x] International Renewable Energy Agency. 2024. Decentralised Solar PV: A Gender Perspective. Retrieved from https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2024/Oct/IRENA_Decentralised_solar_PV_Gender_perspective_2024.pdf