Government mulling splitting GAIL; to sell pipeline business to strategic investor

NEW DELHI: The government is considering to split state-run gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd by hiving off its pipeline business into a separate entity and selling it off to strategic investors, sources privy to the development said.

GAIL is India’s biggest natural gas marketing and trading firm and owns more than two-thirds of the country’s 16,234-km pipeline network, giving it a stranglehold on the market.

Users of natural gas have often complained about not getting access to GAIL’s 11,551-km pipeline network to transport their own fuel.