India's PNG Push Targets 4-5 Lakh New Users: LNG Demand Play

The West Asia conflict is reshaping India's energy policy. The government, looking to conserve LPG, has pushed households to switch to piped natural gas. The results are showing up in company targets.

Think Gas, India's second-largest city gas distributor, aims to add 4-5 lakh new PNG connections by December 2026, its chief marketing officer Vinukumar S Balakrishnan said. "Four to five lakh households is what we ideally would love to have by December, and we are working towards that," he told Businessline.

The push began with PNGRB's PNG National Drive 2.0 in March 2026. Since then, over 10 lakh connections have been gasified, with infrastructure for another 3.22 lakh. Another 9.94 lakh customers have registered for new connections.

The shift from LPG to PNG increases natural gas demand. India imports about half its gas, mostly as LNG. A sustained increase in PNG connections would lift LNG import volumes, benefiting exporters like Cheniere Energy.

Cheniere (LNG) carries an Alpha Score of 66, rated Moderate. The stock could see support if India's gas demand trajectory holds.

The challenge, Balakrishnan said, was not LNG supply but visibility. "What was challenging for the industry is the visibility in trying to understand what will be happening two weeks or four down the line," he noted. That uncertainty remains. A de-escalation in West Asia could slow the policy push. Faster adoption, however, would accelerate the demand shift.

Think Gas has built over 17,781 inch-km of steel pipeline and 23,912 inch-km of MDPE pipeline across 49 districts. The company covers 10% of India's land mass.