10,000 New CNG Outlets In India By 2030, Says Oil Minister Pradhan

While speaking at the 58th SIAM annual meet, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan announced that India would be having 10,000 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) outlets by 2030, Financial Express has reported. As of April 2018, India had 1,424 CNG outlets. Further, he added expansion of the CNG sector would help in reducing India’s crude oil imports.

A car consumes around 750 litres of petrol annually. Thus, a CNG kitted car would reduce India’s consumption of oil by the same amount, the minister said. Currently, India has 3 million CNG kitted cars on road. By 2030, this number is expected to reach 17 million. A CNG kitted vehicle’s emission is 20 to 30 per cent lesser than a petrol car. Thus, it will have a huge impact on air pollution in cities.

The minister called upon companies to manufacture more CNG vehicles in the coming years. Maruti Suzuki has seven CNG cars in its portfolio. Hyundai and Ford are also planning to catch up in this segment. Future fuels for automobiles in India will include hydrogen cell, ethanol, bio-fuel and CNG.