Oil Ministry moves Cabinet note for splitting GAIL; pipeline business may be sold later

The Oil Ministry has moved a cabinet note seeking approval for hiving off state-owned gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd’s pipeline business into a separate entity for a possible sale to a strategic investor at a later date, sources privy to the development said.

GAIL is India’s biggest natural gas marketing and trading firm and owns more than 70 per cent of the country’s 16,981-km pipeline network, giving it a stranglehold on the market.