Supply uncertainty, EV push bring challenges to city gas distributors

Apart from hardships for domestic consumers using it for cooking, the rise in CGD prices indirectly has an impact on the government's goal of achieving 15% share of natural gas in the energy basket

One of the lesser celebrated stories in India is the city gas distribution (CGD), which expanded from just 17 per cent of the population in 2017 to 98 per cent today on the back of conducive government policies and aggressive investment by both private and public sector companies. Over the past year, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine plus some policy tweaks by the government could take the wind out its sails.

The 98 per cent population coverage implies these geographical areas are at various stages of execution and operations, as a majority were awarded in recent years. Several companies are starting