India's Top PSUs 2021

India’s Top PSUs 2021 Experts’ View 29 How would you describe the journey of your company since its inception? What are some of the key milestones of the company in recent years? GAIL (India) Limited was set up in 1984 as a central government owned public sector undertaking. The mandate was to transport, process and market natural gas towards its economic uses. Over the years, GAIL has grown and become one of the largest integrated flagship natural gas companies in the country. The company has presence across the entire gas value chain. The gas pipelines developed by GAIL have touched almost every corner of the country and are thereby supplying fuel to the kitchens, vehicles and industries. Some of the milestones achieved during GAIL’s journey was the company being conferred as the youngest Maharatna. The company bought the first LNG cargo to the country. We started the first City Gas Distribution (CGD) Network in Mumbai and Delhi along with starting the Dabhol LNG Terminal. What challenges did your company face during the pandemic? What modernization techniques did your company embrace to steer through the crisis? The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted GAIL (India) Limited lives and businesses across the world. Organizations faced multiple challenges with respect to health and well-being of employees, disruptions in the supply chain and working capital shortages. As a leading energy provider, GAIL worked around the clock to ensure continuous supply of natural gas, petro chemicals and LPG to all its customers across India. GAIL facilitated ease of movement for its vendors, suppliers to transport the material, equipment as well as laborers and workers. The company undertook an organization-wide vaccination drive for its employees and other stakeholders. GAIL was also at the forefront of the digitization process prior to the pandemic. Hence, the adaptation of digital technologies has helped us to interact seamlessly with our stakeholders, helping in smooth operations, procurement and payments. What is your company’s growth strategy for next 3-5 years? India has gradually emerged as the centre of global energy consumption as the shift from west to east has become a reality. India has become a major driver of forthcoming energy growth. As India is moving towards a cleaner energy mix, several growth opportunities have emerged across the energy value chain particularly in the natural gas sector. In the next 3-5 years, GAIL’s growth strategy is focussed on building a strong and sustainable business portfolio to unlock the long-term growth opportunities supported by an organization structure to handle the dynamic business environment. GAIL has started strategic initiatives across various business verticals under its growth strategy. Action plans have already been rolled out to achieve the desired objectives. We are committed towards making clean energy available to every Indian along with retaining leadership position in the natural gas with the expansion of natural gas network. We are at the cusp of completing the national gas grid development of the downstream gas market and also, we areexpandingour LNGportfolio,which remains the core strength of GAIL. We have also identified petrochemicals as one important area where we want to grow along with the renewable energy area. Further, the company intends to enter the speciality chemicals manufacturing business. Besides, we are also looking forward to forging partnerships and adopting new business models for entering new business and expanding existing ones. Our focus on emerging businesses such as LNG shipping, renewable energy, EV recharging among others are one of the major strategic shifts. GAIL is playing a proactive role in shaping the regulation and policy guidelines in existing and potential new business areas. E S Ranganathan Director (Marketing) Dun & Bradstreet