Kadam Sambhaji Namdeo and Kavita Srivastava
Indian Industry and Government is working hard for increasing the share of natural gas into primary energy mix with primary objectives of replacing the liquid fuels from the different consumer segments. City Gas Distribution (CGD) is considered as last mile connectivity in the natural gas value chain which plays vital role in providing natural gas access to the end consumers and would help to replace liquid fuels from consuming segments like Transport, Commercial, Industrial and domestic. This will not only help country to reduce the emissions as natural gas being cleanest fossil fuel but also help to reduce the subsidies going into domestic LPG segment. This paper has been prepared based both the primary data and secondary data, whereas under the secondary research the authentic data sources like reports from government agencies PNGRB, PPAC, MoPNG etc. are used. It has been found that, in the recent years 2018-2021 the sectoral regulator has done the commendable job and awarded the significant geographical areas for the CGD development under the different CGD rounds. To support the secondary research, authors has collected the primary data by conducting an expert interviews of 20 industry experts having average experience of more than 27 years and tried to understand the expert’s views on the role of CGD in India’s move towards the gas based economy and major challenges being faced by the CGD sector. It has been found that, CGD is going to play an vital role in India’s move towards the gas based economy and would help country to increase the share of natural gas in primary energy mix by 2030.