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GAIL Looks To List Subsidiary GAIL Gas

GAIL plans to list its subsidiary GAIL Gas on the bourses.

Pipelines run past a worker laboring in salt pan in the Mahul area of Mumbai. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
Pipelines run past a worker laboring in salt pan in the Mahul area of Mumbai. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

India’s largest state-run gas processing and distribution company, GAIL India Ltd., plans to list its subsidiary GAIL Gas Ltd. on the bourses.

“We may consolidate our retail gas business before the listing,” said BC Tripathi, chairman and managing director of GAIL India Ltd. “Barring Indraprastha Gas Ltd. and Mahanagar Gas Ltd., our other joint ventures aren’t listed. We may even list them individually.” He declined to comment on a timeline for the probable listing.

The plan is expected to play a part in India’s strategy to more than double the share of gas in its energy mix, from 6.2 percent currently to 15 percent in the next 12 years. GAIL Gas Ltd. was incorporated in May 2008 for the implementation of city gas distribution projects. Currently, it is authorised for distribution in 10 cities by the Oil and Petroleum Ministry.

Tripathi outlined the contribution by GAIL Gas and its subsidiaries and joint ventures in the addition of new gas connections and the setting up of CNG stations last year. “While India added over 7 lakh gas connections in cities, we added around 5 lakh. Similarly, we built 120 out of the 145 CNG stations in India.”

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On a standalone basis, GAIL Gas connected almost 62,000 households and set up 20 CNG stations. This year, it intends to build 50 CNG stations and add at least 1.5 lakh gas connections.

After laying out the infrastructure, the company will now focus on profitability and revenue. “GAIL Gas achieved a turnover of Rs 4,586 crore in the year ended March versus Rs 2,798 crore in the previous fiscal.”

He said that GAIL Gas is executing city gas projects in six other cities entailing an investment of Rs 1,520 crore. These include Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur and the 2,500km-long Jagdishpur-Haldia pipeline that will connect Varanasi.