$60 Billion Investment In Building Gas Infra: Dharmendra Pradhan

Expanding the reach of environment-friendly Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in various areas, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan dedicated 42 CNG stations and 3 City Gate Stations of Torrent Gas to the service of the community. All CNG stations and City Gate Stations were connected through video conference during the event with the Minister.

Torrent Gas has the authorization to lay City Gas Distribution network in 32 Districts across 7 States and 1 UT. These CNG stations are located across various states, including 14 in Uttar Pradesh, 8 in Maharashtra, 6 in Gujarat, 4 in Punjab and 5 each in Telangana and Rajasthan. The City Gate Stations include one each in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Pradhan called upon all CGD agencies to grow into the Comprehensive Energy Retailers. He said that the Government has visualized that consumers, as per their purchasing capacity and their choice of fuel, should be able to buy any type of fuel from the retail outlet- be it petrol, diesel, CNG, LNG or electric charging. He also said that the Government wants to supply fuel through the mobile dispensers so that consumers can get the fuel at their doorstep, as per their convenience. The Minister said that the strategy is being made to expand the battery swapping facilities also. Minister advocated adopting the digital platforms on large scale, in every aspect of the transaction.

Shri Pradhan said that India will become the largest energy consumer in the world in the coming years. He said that Development of CGD network in India is in line with the vision of our Hon’ble Prime Minister to achieve the COP-21 Climate Change goals set for 2030. In the Solar energy sector, India has already become the role model. Shri Pradhan said that an investment of about $60 billion which is more than Rs 4 lakh crore, is being made in the gas infrastructure which includes laying of pipelines, terminals, gas fields. He said that the country is moving towards the gas-based economy, which is not only clean and efficient fuel, but will also help in reducing the country’s dependence on imported crude oil. Shri Pradhan called upon the CGD companies to also invest in the biomass-based plants to produce Compressed Bio-gas, using agriculture residues, forest produce, city waste and Gobar. He said that 500 such plants are already being set up, and the target is to reach 5000 such plants. He said that during the pandemic, our Corona-warriors, braving the threats, ensured timely supply to consumers at their doorsteps.

Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Tarun Kapoor, speaking on the occasion, lauded the effort of CGD entities to meet their targets, despite Covid problem. He said that in India's quest to transform into a gas-based economy, establishment and augmentation of distribution networks is pivotal in order to ensure smooth transition towards the enhanced usage of PNG and CNG.

Number of CNG stations have increased to more than double in the country, from 938 CNG station in year 2014 to around 2300 CNG stations in 2020. Together with the existing CNG stations and the ones expected under 9^th and 10^th rounds, India is looking at a robust infrastructure of about 10,000 CNG stations in coming years.

The 9^th CGD bidding round which concluded in  2018, was India’s largest ever with as many as 174 districts with 86 GAs. The 10^th CGD bidding round covering 124 districts with 50 GAs again witnessed huge interest from investors. 9^th & 10^th rounds cumulatively attract investment of around Rs 120,000 crores. After these rounds, India shall have CGD infrastructure operational across 407 districts of the country having the potential of covering more than 50% of country’s area and serving more than 70 % of the population.

Such large capacity addition in the CGD sector is expected to provide strong demand for PNG meters, PNG regulators, CNG compressors, CNG dispensers and CNG cascades in the forthcoming years. The existence of such assured demand from the CGD sector will provide a strong incentive to increase domestic manufacturing and promote Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and making clean fuel available in various parts of the Country.