New Delhi : Adani Group has aggressively bid in case of city gas retailing licences and emerged as the top bidder by eyeing as many as 52 cities. Meanwhile, another player Reliance-BP joint venture (JV) came close to bidding for licence to retail gas in 15 cities but did not place a firm bid.
According to sources, GAIL Gas Ltd, the city gas distribution arm of state-owned GAIL India Ltd, put in bids for close to 30 cities. Adding to it, sources told PTI that Adani Gas Ltd bid for 32 cities on its own and another 20 cities in equal JV with state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC).
This was the biggest bidding round for city gas distribution licensing which closed. This offered 86 permits for selling CNG and piped cooking gas in 174 districts in 22 states and union territories. India Gas Solutions Pvt Ltd— the 50:50 JV of UK’s BP plc and Reliance Industries, looked very closely to foray into city gas distribution but dropped out at the last moment, the sources said. IGSPL, which was formed to retail natural gas in India, looked at licence for 15 cities but did not place any bid, they added.
IGL, which retails CNG in the national capital region, put in bids for 13 cities, they said. Essel Infraprojects Ltd has put in a total of seven bids. Other subsidiaries of GAIL, Mahanagar Gas Ltd and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC) too made bids for the licence.
As many as 86 geographical areas (GAs), made by clubbing adjacent districts, are on offer in the 9th city gas distribution (CGD) bidding round. The GAs cover 24 per cent of the country’s area and 29 per cent of its population.
The round is likely to attract investments of Rs 70,000 crore, according to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). The government is targeting to raise the share of natural gas in primary energy basket to 15 per cent from 6 per cent at present, within a few years. The bid round is also aimed at meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target of giving piped cooking gas connection to 1 crore households, roughly triple the current size, by 2020.
The CGD licences on offer are for Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh; Ahmednagar in Maharashtra; Ludhiana and Jalandhar in Punjab; Barmer, Alwar and Kota in Rajasthan; Coimbatore and Salem in Tamil Nadu; Allahabad, Faizabad, Amethi and Rai Bareli in Uttar Pradesh; Dehradun in Uttarakhand and Burdwan in West Bengal.
Prior to the ninth round, 91 GAs were awarded to firms like Indraprastha Gas Ltd and GAIL Gas Ltd, which are serving 240 million population, 42 lakh domestic consumers and 31 lakh CNG vehicles. Of these, 56 GAs were awarded through bidding rounds and the rest on government nomination. The latest round is being held on changed parameters after one-paisa bids spoilt the initial auction rounds.
