New Delhi: Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday launched National PNG Drive 3.0, a campaign to connect more homes to piped natural gas (PNG). It follows a second drive in which, by his account, connections picked up pace. "Daily DPNG additions rose 43 percent, while billed consumer additions increased 166 percent," Puri said in a post on X, referring to domestic PNG (DPNG) during Drive 2.0.
Follow Energy Watch on X
The new drive runs from October 1 to March 31, 2027, and aims much higher. Puri said it targets "50 lakh new DPNG connections, 40 lakh conversions to active users, and another 50 lakh DPNG registrations." Drive 2.0, which ran for six months from January to June, delivered 12.10 lakh connections, 13.37 lakh billed connections and 15.31 lakh DPNG registrations, said Puri.
According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, daily DPNG additions rose from 4,702 to around 7,000 over the course of Drive 2.0. Daily additions of billed consumers rose from around 2,781 to around 7,500.
"Delighted to launch National PNG Drive 3.0 today, at the event celebrating the 20th Foundation Day of PNGRB," Puri wrote. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) marked the anniversary at the Dr Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi.
Several organisations are running the drive together: the ministry, PNGRB, city gas distribution (CGD) companies, oil marketing companies (OMCs) and others. Puri said it "aims to accelerate PNG adoption, encourage the shift from LPG to PNG, and make better use of existing infrastructure."
Making more of existing networks is central to the plan. "The focus will be on activating dormant connections, maximising existing CGD networks, expanding PNG in semi-urban and rural areas, and connecting new consumers," Puri said. The networks already in the ground could take in many more homes. "With 6,87,966 inch-km of pipeline already laid, there is potential for another 1.30 crore connections," he said. Inch-km is a measure of pipeline length multiplied by its diameter in inches.
Puri linked the drive to the government's aim of raising natural gas's share of the primary energy mix. "This will strengthen India's vision of increasing the share of natural gas in the primary energy mix from around 6 percent today, supporting cleaner, reliable and affordable energy," he said. "PNG Drive 3.0 will take this progress further and provide clean, convenient and reliable PNG to many more households across India."
PNGRB also launched the MyPNG Portal at the event. This national digital platform is meant to streamline PNG services, make information easier to find and improve how consumers deal with CGD companies. The regulator also presented its PNGRB Excellence Awards 2026 to companies operating CGD networks, natural gas pipelines and petroleum product pipelines, for their operations, safety standards and infrastructure delivery.
Petroleum Secretary Dr Neeraj Mittal said regulation now has to focus on getting gas used across sectors. Success, he said, should be judged by actual gas consumption, molecule utilisation and how fast household PNG connections grow, not just by the length of pipeline laid.
Building networks is costly, and Mittal pointed to one way to ease that burden. He urged CGD companies to use special schemes to cut the time they take to recover their costs from 10–15 years to 2–3 years. That, he said, would remove a major financial barrier to expanding networks. He also stressed coordination between upstream and downstream companies, state-run oil companies and the government to keep clean energy supplies uninterrupted.
According to Puri, nearly the entire country has now been authorised for City Gas Distribution (CGD), and around 35,000 km of natural gas pipelines have been authorised. He said the Unified Tariff framework has narrowed regional differences in gas costs and improved access in remote and underserved areas. LPG connections have risen from 14.5 crore in 2014 to more than 33 crore, he added.
According to the ministry, the government kept essential gas supplies flowing during the West Asia crisis. Over the same period, CGD companies kept adding PNG users and working more closely with states and other stakeholders.
Puri said international energy prices rose by 70–80 percent during the recent volatility. Cuts in central excise duty on petrol and diesel, he said, kept domestic fuel prices stable and protected Indian consumers.
The minister also listed policy decisions aimed at strengthening energy security. These include allocations of Rs 84,084 crore under the Samudra Manthan scheme and Rs 23,731 crore for GOBARdhan. He said opening 1 million sq km of sedimentary basins that were previously restricted has helped increase domestic hydrocarbon exploration and gas availability.
Puri pointed to the National Hydrocarbon Infrastructure Monitoring System (NHIMS) as an example of PNGRB's technology-led regulation. The system brings infrastructure, administrative, transport, geographical and satellite data onto a common digital platform. The ministry expects it to strengthen monitoring, planning and regulatory oversight, and to support faster, better-informed decisions.
Follow Energy Watch on LinkedIN
Looking ahead, Puri called for quicker and more effective digital grievance redressal and timely expansion of CGD networks into new areas. He also called for healthy competition, stronger capacity in the sector and a regulatory framework that keeps pace with India's sustainability and net zero goals. In its statement, the ministry said PNGRB's continued independence and arm's-length position from administrative and commercial interests would remain important for building confidence across the industry. So would a clear, transparent and predictable regulatory framework, it said.