GAIL seeks to double share capital, foray into new areas

GAIL (India) Ltd wants to double its share capital as well as add specialty chemicals and clean energy to its line of business as it looks to diversify business beyond natural gas transmission and distribution. GAIL has sought shareholder approval to increase the authorised share capital of the company to Rs 100 billion crore from the current Rs 50 billion crore to help raise finance for its expansion plans over the next three-four years. The firm is laying natural gas truck pipelines to create a national gas grid as well as expand city gas distribution as part of the government's target of more than doubling the share of natural gas in the primary energy basket to 15 per cent by 2030. GAIL has a capex plan of approximately Rs 300 billion in the next three-four years. These projects will be funded partly through internal resources and partly through debt, which may also include the equity route, the firm said in a notice to shareholders. Further, the company may also look at issuing bonus equity shares to its shareholders, it said. India's largest state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company also sought to amend the Memorandum of Association (MoA) to allow entry into new business areas. See also: IOC to dispatch fuel to Tripura via Bangladesh TCR Engineering executing 84 gas pipeline testing projects