City gas expansion loses steam in Apr-Dec as customer additions, infra growth falter

New Delhi: City gas distributors are losing momentum in both customer additions and infrastructure expansion.

Industrial customer additions fell 16% year-on-year in April-December 2025, while household additions declined 5%, according to data published by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. In December alone, city gas companies lost 80 industrial customers against a net addition of 123 a year ago. For April-December, industrial additions stood at 912, down from 1,084 a year earlier. Industrial consumers account for 28% of total gas sales by city gas companies, compared with CNG's 63% and households' 8%.

New piped natural gas (PNG) connections to households declined to about 1.2 million in April-December from nearly 1.27 million in the year-ago period. In December, the drop was sharper at 18%, with additions falling to about 182,000.


The commercial segment, which includes hotels, restaurants, etc., was largely flat, with new customer additions inching up 1% in April-December to 2,784.

Infrastructure build-out also slowed markedly during the period. Commissioning of new CNG stations fell 17% to 542, with December witnessing a steeper 31% decline to 82 stations. Laying of both steel and MDPE (plastic) pipelines declined 12% each during April-December. In December, steel pipeline additions were down 8%, while MDPE pipelines saw a sharper 32% fall. Steel pipelines transport high-pressure gas, while MDPE pipelines are used for low-pressure distribution.

The slowdown in industrial additions has been driven primarily by the reduced competitiveness of natural gas against alternative liquid fuels, an industry executive said. Adding households has long been a challenge for city gas companies, which have frequently missed their licensing targets for residential connections. Expanding household networks requires multiple clearances, pipeline installation in congested residential areas and persuading consumers already reliant on subsidised LPG.

The decline in new CNG stations is more surprising, given that CNG has been the primary growth driver for city gas distributors. This does not indicate saturation in CNG demand; rather, companies appear to be moderating expansion to recover investments before accelerating again, the executive said. Many operators are already well ahead of their licensing targets for CNG station rollouts.