GAIL'S gas pipeline network capacity to rise 50% in 3 years Irdai in process of migrating to risk-based capital regime

State-owned company is also keen to set up 400 CNG stations and give out a record 10 lakh piped natural gas (PNG) connections to household kitchens

NEW DELHI: GAIL India Tuesday said it will expand its pipeline network capacity by about 50 per cent by constructing 5,500-kilometers of new lines in the next three years.

The state-owned company is also looking at setting up 400 CNG stations and giving out a record 10 lakh piped natural gas (PNG) connections to household kitchens, its Chairman and Managing Director B C Tripathi said.

GAIL operates 11,000-km of pipeline network and markets two-thirds of all natural gas sold in the country.

It is rapidly building infrastructure to support the government push towards a gas-based economy by raising the share of natural gas in the energy basket to 15 per cent from current 6.2 per cent, in next few years.

GAIL plans to "add 5,500km gas pipelines to the existing network and leapfrog to capacity augmentation by about 50 per cent on the current base in the next three years in phases," he told shareholders at the company's 34th Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The company is building a 2,655-km gas pipeline from Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal and Odisha, the first phase of which would be completed before the scheduled target of December 2018.

Jagdishpur-haldia & Bokaro-dhamra Natural Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL) project, also known as the 'Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga' project, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2015.

Tripathi said the pipeline section from Phulpur to Varanasi has been commissioned, the leg to Patna would be started in next couple of months.

The pipeline would be extended to Guwahati by laying an additional 750-km line, he said. "The proposed pipeline up to Guwahati would interconnect with the upcoming 1,500km 'Indradhanush' pipeline network conceived to operate in North-east by the public sector oil and gas majors."

In addition, gas supplies through city gas distribution (CGD) networks have commenced at Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, he said.

CGD operations include the sale of CNG to automobiles and piped natural gas or PNG to household kitchens for cooking purpose. CNG is being pushed as a replacement for polluting

liquid fuels like diesel, and PNG as a replacement for LPG to cut imports.

GAIL and its CGD subsidiaries gave out a record over 5

lakh PNG connections and set up 120 CNG dispensing stations in 2017-18, he said adding the target for the current year is to give 10 lakh PNG connections and set up 400 CNG stations.

"Even as CGDS at Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Patna are under phased execution, under the 9th round of bidding, CGD affiliates of GAIL have competitively won a total of 15 geographical areas that include Guwahati, Rourkela, Meerut, Dehradun, and Mangalore," he said. MUMBAI: Insurance regulator IRDAI Tuesday said it is in the process of moving towards the risk-based capital (RBC) regime to improve protection for policyholders.

It last year had set up a 10-member steering committee to help implement the new risk-based capital regime by March 2021.

"We have started the process of moving to risk-based capital system. It will of course take a little time but it will be done eventually in a couple of years," Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) chairman S C Khuntia said on the sidelines of the CII Insurance and Pension Summit Tuesday.

The decision to move to the RBC structure from the current solvency principle regime was taken after recommendations of a panel which gave its report in July this year, IRDAI had said in a notification last year.

A shift in regime was felt because the current solvency based rules do not help in assessing whether the capital held is adequate enough for the risks inherent in the insurance business, it had said.

Khuntia said if risk-based capital system is there, then

Insurance industry has made a request to Irdai to allow increase in limit on raising capital through tier-ii bonds

additional capital doesn't have to remain idle.

"It will help those companies who manage their risk well," he said.

Insurance industry has made a request to allow increase the limit to raise capital through tier-ii bonds.

Currently they are allowed to raise up to from 25 per cent of their net worth from tierII bonds.

"That request has been made today. This would be possible only when we move to risk-based capital regime," he said.

The regulator is also starting to work on risk-based supervision for the insurance sector, according to Khuntia.

"Those who are at greater risk will require more intensive work, while those who do not display these kind of risky behaviour need a light touch as far as supervision is concerned," he added.

Talking about the recent downgrade of bonds of IL&FS by some rating agencies, Khuntia said in events like these, insurance companies have to decide prudently on their investments.