New Delhi, May 12 -- After halting new cooking gas connections and extending refill booking periods, oil marketing companies (OMCs) are turning to tax data to weed out ineligible beneficiaries of the direct benefit transfer scheme for LPG (DBTL), even as high energy prices raise the possibility of a fuel price hike.

Indian Oil Corp. Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd have started sending text messages to users in this respect, three officials aware of the development said. The messages, which cite the users' income tax data showing annual income of Rs.10 lakh and above, state that the subsidy may be discontinued since they are ineligible.

An SMS from Indian Oil Corp. received by several LPG customers said:...