The Indian government will introduce rules in six months that could lead to the phase-out of monopolies controlled by natural gas distribution companies in 34 cities, including New Delhi and Mumbai, allowing consumers to choose a new supplier, a senior regulatory official said. In 2009, India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) gave exclusive gas marketing rights, initially for five years, to companies who had established gas distribution networks in cities across the country as a way to recover their costs along with exclusive rights to use the networks for 25 years.
However, the regulator will open the marketing business to competition, said Satpal Garg, a PNGRB board member who is in control of its commercial and monitoring responsibilities. “These companies have more than recovered their costs as indicated by their profitability and market cap,” he said.
