Everest Kanto Cylinder Ltd., India’s biggest maker of high-pressure gas cylinders used for automobiles and industrial storage, sees demand increasing as the nation pushes use of the cleanest fossil fuel to improve its air.
The Mumbai-based company aims to benefit from the government’s plan to increase the number of compressed natural gas stations in the country to 10,000 over the next five years, Managing Director Puneet Khurana said on a briefing call Nov. 26. India now has about 2,300 outlets.
“The government is focused on having a gas economy," Khurana said. “We are seeing serious investments being announced."
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to double gas’s share to 15% of the country’s energy mix by 2030 and targets investing $60 billion to build pipelines and LNG re-gasification terminals.
India has auctioned city-gas distribution permits in more than 400 districts with the next round targeting another 100. Everest Kanto predicts the move will improve its revenue, which rose to an 11-year-high in the July-September quarter boosted by demand for oxygen cylinders amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Shares of the company, which accounts for about half of the Indian cylinder market and has a market capitalization of Rs6 billion ($81 million), have surged more than 80% this year compared with a 24% gain in the S&P BSE Small Cap Index.
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