MGL Partners With India Post For Doorstep PNG Meter Reading Services, Pilot Begins In South Mumbai

Mumbai: In a first for India's city gas distribution sector, Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) has partnered with the Department of Posts to introduce doorstep piped natural gas (PNG) meter reading services, with the initiative set to begin as a pilot in South Mumbai before being expanded across the city.

The collaboration, formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), makes MGL the first City Gas Distribution (CGD) company in the country to engage India Post for domestic gas meter reading services.

Under the initiative, uniformed India Post personnel will visit MGL's residential consumers to record gas meter readings using a dedicated mobile application. Each reading will be supported by a photograph of the meter display, with the information transmitted directly to MGL's systems through an Application Programming Interface (API), enabling digital verification and reducing the scope for manual errors.

According to MGL, the visits will be carried out only at addresses listed in the utility's consumer database. The company also said that, wherever feasible, women postal employees will be deployed for household visits to enhance customer comfort and confidence.

The pilot project will initially cover consumers in South Mumbai. Based on its performance, both organisations will jointly assess parameters such as accuracy, coverage and customer experience before extending the service to other parts of Mumbai and subsequently to other regions where MGL operates.

Speaking on the partnership, MGL Managing Director Praveer Kumar Srivastava said the collaboration would leverage India Post's trusted last-mile network to make the meter reading process more accurate, transparent and convenient for consumers.

Chief Postmaster General, Maharashtra Circle, Amitabh Singh said the initiative would allow India Post to utilise its extensive field network for a new public service while reinforcing the trust households place in postal employees.

Apart from improving operational efficiency for MGL, the partnership is expected to generate an additional source of non-postal revenue for India Post. Postal staff engaged in the exercise will receive incentives for every successfully updated household meter reading.

MGL, promoted by GAIL (India) Ltd., is one of the country's largest city gas distribution companies. It supplies piped natural gas to over 32 lakh households and serves more than 6,100 commercial and industrial consumers. The company also provides CNG to over 13 lakh vehicles through a network of 519 CNG stations across Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Mira-Bhayander, Raigad and several other districts in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

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