Gail India to invest ₹6,000 cr. in renewables over the next 3 years estimated additional investment of ₹20,000 crore by 2030

‘The investment can go up by an additional ₹20,000 crore by 2030’

by Priya J

MUMBAI, 30 MAY, 2022: State-owned Gail India will invest ₹6,000 crore in the next three years in renewables, a top official said on Monday.

The investment can go up by an additional Rs 20,000 crore by 2030, GAIL India chairman and managing director Manoj Jain told reporters here.

GAIL India Director (Finance) Rakesh Kumar Jain, said, “The company, which reported a 112% jump in FY22 post-tax net profit to ₹10,364 crore, has outlined an overall capital expenditure plan of up to ₹40,000 crore in the next five years, which will cover a wide array of areas.This will entail borrowings of up to ₹20,000 crore, while the rest will come from internal accruals, the director added.  Its chairman said it is looking at almost 3 GW of renewables capacity by 2030, which will include 1 GW to start within the next three years.”

The company is undertaking a liquid hydrogen capacity addition right now and the progress done on the prototype will influence its overall investments, Mr. Manoj Jain said, adding that a call on the same will be taken after 18 months.

Giving details on the same,Mr. Jain said it is in the process of procuring a 10 MW facility for liquid hydrogen, which is slated to be the largest in the country and is on the lookout for the electrolyser.   In FY22, it invested ₹7,700 crore across all activities, which included pipelines for the core transmission business and petrochemicals, he added.

Meanwhile, the chairman said GAIL is awaiting a nod from the government on its asset-monetisation proposals and added that it expects to monetise up to ₹4,000 crore of assets in FY23.  On the exploration and production side, its activities will be limited to an asset being pursued in neighbouring Myanmar where it is investing money, Mr. Jain added.

The company has also embarked upon alternate energies like green hydrogen by awarding a contract to set up one of the largest proton exchange membrane electrolyser in India at GAIL’s Vijaipur Complex in Madhya Pradesh which will produce around 4.3 metric tons of hydrogen per day (approx. 10 MW capacity) and is scheduled to be commissioned by November 2023.

Among other important projects, GAIL has laid a dedicated pipeline to supply fuel to Hindustan Petroleum Corporation-L Mittal Energy’s refinery in Bathinda (Punjab) which was inaugurated on 21 May. The pipeline which has been laid at a cost of Rs 142 crore, as part of the National Gas Grid, runs from Dadri (Uttar Pradesh) through Yamunanagar (Haryana) to Nangal (Punjab) and will boost the supply of natural gas in the region.