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The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board authorised about 1,800 km of new LPG pipelines on 21 August 2026, at an estimated capital investment of Rs 7,000 crore.
GAIL (India) Limited has been named the authorised entity for the three pipelines, which will run through six states - Telangana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Goa.
The three sections are Cherlapally to Nagpur (556 km), Jhansi to Sitarganj (611 km) and Shikrapur to Goa and Hubli (633 km).
India's common-carrier LPG pipeline network is projected to grow from about 7,700 km to around 9,500 km on completion, an increase of roughly 23.5 per cent.
PNGRB is the downstream regulator constituted under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act, 2006; it authorises common-carrier and contract-carrier pipelines but does not regulate exploration and production.
Under the PNGRB framework a common-carrier pipeline must reserve capacity for third parties and offer open access on regulated, non-discriminatory terms - anyone willing to pay the notified tariff can move their product through it. A contract-carrier pipeline, by contrast, moves product under specific contracts with named shippers. The distinction matters because open access is what turns a company's own pipeline into shared national infrastructure, and it is the reason PNGRB - rather than the owner - fixes the tariff and the terms of access.
Simple Analogy: A common carrier is a public bus that must take any passenger who pays the fixed fare; a contract carrier is a chartered coach that runs only for the parties who booked it.
Statutory downstream regulator for refining, processing, storage, transportation, distribution, marketing and sale of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas; authorises common-carrier and contract-carrier pipelines and city gas distribution networks, and fixes transportation tariffs. Set up under the PNGRB Act, 2006 and constituted in 2007. It does not regulate exploration and production.
Maharatna public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas; India's largest natural gas transmission and marketing company. Incorporated in August 1984 as Gas Authority of India Limited to build and operate the Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HVJ) pipeline, India's first cross-country gas pipeline, whose first phase of about 1,750 km was commissioned in 1987. Conferred Maharatna status in February 2013.
The parent statute; it created PNGRB and gave it authorisation and tariff-fixing powers over downstream petroleum and natural gas infrastructure.
The expansion of LPG connections under PMUY is the demand-side reason bulk LPG movement has grown, which is what the new pipeline capacity is meant to serve.
The government's programme to link all regions of the country by gas pipeline; the LPG common-carrier network is its liquid-fuel counterpart.
GAIL was among the companies granted Maharatna status in February 2013, alongside BHEL, giving its board greater investment autonomy.
GS Paper 3 > Indian Economy > Infrastructure: energy, ports, roads; regulatory bodies
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An open-access pipeline that must carry petroleum products for multiple users on regulated, non-discriminatory terms.
The company permitted by PNGRB to lay, build, operate or expand a specified pipeline or city gas distribution network.
Liquefied petroleum gas, a mixture of propane and butane used for domestic cooking, commercial and industrial applications.
The highest category of central public sector enterprise, giving the board the widest investment autonomy; GAIL received the status in February 2013.