Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL), India's largest city gas distributor, announced on Monday that Kumar Shanker has assumed charge as its managing director. He succeeds Kamal Kishore Chatiwal, who has returned to parent company GAIL (India) Ltd after completing a three-year tenure at the company.
Shanker is a chemical engineer graduate from BITS Pilani and brings more than three decades of experience in India's oil and gas sector. His expertise spans natural gas processing, petrochemicals, project management, corporate strategy, marketing, regulatory affairs and city gas distribution, IGL said in a statement.
Shanker’s experience and career highlights
Before Shanker joined IGL as a top executive, he served as the managing director of Maharashtra Natural Gas Ltd (MNGL), where the company emerged as one of India's top-five city gas distributors in terms of growth, profitability and expansion of domestic piped gas infrastructure.
Over a career spanning more than 30 years at GAIL, Shanker has worked across multiple business verticals and locations, including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi, the company said. He has also been closely involved in key regulatory matters relating to gas pipeline tariffs, open access and network authorisations.
Shanker also additionally played a significant role in the introduction of the unified tariff mechanism for India's national gas grid, a reform aimed at improving access to natural gas across the country.
Business overview
IGL is a joint venture between GAIL (India) Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL). The company operates as one of the country's leading city gas distribution firms, supplying compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) across key urban regions.
Along with its main promoters, the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi also holds a 5% stake in the company.
IGL operates city gas distribution networks across 33 districts in four states, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. It has laid more than 30,000 km of pipeline network and supplies compressed natural gas through over 1,000 stations.
The gas distributor also serves more than 2.1 million CNG vehicles and has connected nearly 3.5 million households with piped natural gas.
IGL raises rate of CNG
In May, Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) increased the price of CNG by ₹2 per kg, taking rates in Delhi to ₹83.09 per kg. This marked the fourth hike in less than a fortnight, with prices rising three times within just 10 days amid a series of rapid revisions, Mint reported earlier.
The increases reflect a broader pattern of fuel cost pressures rippling through the Indian economy, driven in large part by disruptions to global crude oil supply routes following military conflict in the Middle East.
(with inputs from PTI)
