Adani, Gail bid for gas retailing
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.
New Delhi, July 10: Adani Group on Tuesday emerged as the top bidder for gas retailing licences, eyeing 52 cities, while the Reliance- BP combine dropped out last minute from the latest round for 86 cities which saw over 400 bids with potential investment of ` 70,000 crore.
GAIL Gas Ltd, the city gas distribution arm of state- owned GAIL India Ltd, put in bids for close to 30 cities, sources privy to the development said.
Adani Gas Ltd bid for 32 cities on its own and another 20 cities in equal joint venture with stateowned Indian Oil Corp ( IOC).
Bidding for the biggest city gas distribution licensing round, offering 86 permits for selling CNG and piped cooking gas in 174 districts in 22 states and union territories, closed today.
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, they said.
IGSPL, which was formed to retail natural gas in India, looked at license for 15 cities but did not place any bid at the close of bidding today, 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 GSPC also made bids for the licence.
As many as 86 geographical areas ( GAs), made by clubbing adjacent districts, are on offer in the 9th round of bidding for city gas distribution ( CGD) licence. 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.
Bidders have been asked to quote the number of CNG stations to be set up and number of domestic cooking gas connections to be given in the first eight years of operation.