Shri Hardip Singh Rai is CEO at THINK Gas Distribution. After 25 years as an investment banker focused on the energy sector from London, in 2016 he began to spend time in India, which led onto his involvement with the city gas distribution sector that led to the formation of THINK Gas, with the sponsorship of I Squared Capital. Shri Rai has done MA (Cantab) in engineering from St John’s College at the University of Cambridge, before training to become a Chartered Accountant (Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales) and then moving into investment banking at Morgan Stanley.
Shri Hardip Singh Rai (HS Rai) speaks to the Editor of IndianBureaucracy- Saurabh Sinha (SS) about his journey, THINK Gas and his plans for THINK Gas.
SS: What sets THINK Gas apart from its competitors in the natural gas industry, and how do you plan to maintain that competitive edge in the future?
HS Rai | Established in 2018, THINK Gas is a City Gas Distribution (CGD) company, which aims to supply clean fuel to consumers. With seven licenses to operate across 13 districts in India, covering approximately 47,000 sq. km across the states of Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh, we supply natural gas to Domestic, Commercial, Industrial, and Automotive (CNG) segments, serving over 17 million population in our geographies.
At THINK Gas, “Khul Ke Saans Lo” describes the reason for our existence. We are promoting the use of natural gas to meet the nation’s energy needs. In doing so, we will be reducing pollution, improving the environment, and impacting the quality of life of the people we serve.
Focused on digital transformation, we are the first CGD company in the country to adopt state-of- the-art technology solutions that help us to optimize our network, meet the growing demand, and enable us to provide an uninterrupted supply of natural gas. THINK Gas believes in a customer-first approach. Keeping the customer in focus, we have developed CNG stations across our geographies. We promise a superior customer service experience with state- of-the-art amenities such as customer waiting lounges, RO water dispensers, and Fresh rooms. We are building customer loyalty through the launch of various loyalty programs. We strongly believe in sustainability and have deployed Solar panels, Gas Gensets, and Groundwater Recharge Wells at all our stations to meet our Sustainable Development Goals. We aim to ensure zero harm to people, assets, environment, and reputation.
SS: Could you speak about THINK Gas efforts to increase the accessibility and affordability of natural gas for households and small businesses in India?
HS Rai | India’s gas demand is expected to almost double to reach 115 BCM by 2030 and 170 BCM by 2050. Hence it is imperative that there is enough supply to meet this humongous demand. In tandem with this view, THINK Gas, is making natural gas accessible and affordable to all, including households, commercial establishments and industries in our markets.
For the households, we have introduced Bluetooth enabled prepaid meters, that help our customers with easy recharges from anywhere anytime, pay as you use facilities and a recharge of as low as INR 50. For the industrial customers, we carry out a lot of marketing activities to educate our customers, show them the benefits of natural gas by sharing with them case studies of how we have helped our existing customers improve productivity, efficiency and product quality.
SS: The Indian government has set ambitious targets for increasing the share of natural gas in the country & energy mix. How does THINK Gas plan to contribute to achieving these targets and what challenges do you foresee in the process?
HS Rai | THINK Gas is committed to and playing its part in full to increase the share of natural gas to 15% in the energy mix by 2030 and fulfilling the government’s goal. We are building our network to cover new areas in our markets, increase the accessibility and bring natural gas to our customers, and educate customers about the benefits of using natural gas so that they finally adopt and use this cleaner fuel. Though the journey is dotted with challenges in the form of regulatory hurdles, infrastructure constraints, and pricing issues, we are working closely with the government and other stakeholders to address these challenges with immediacy.
SS: What are the current trends in biogas production and adoption in India and how do they
benefit the current situation?
HS Rai | Historically, despite its potential Biogas production has been a small scale and very local activity established by local entrepreneurs or corporations. The output was typically low quality, impure and unreliable in terms of production quantities. Over the recent years, however, supported by the Government of India’s vision and policy interventions, Biogas has become more professionally produced, with the introduction of new corporate entities and professionally managed operators coming into the segment.
India has vast potential for biogas production due to its abundant organic waste sources. Investing in Biogas leads to increase in domestic production of renewable fuel, reduction in the dependence on imports, decarbonization of the economy, better waste management and leading to creation of jobs. All of these contribute to achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs). This also helps create a circular economy that leads to better monetization of waste by farmers, increasing their incomes, giving them higher quality fertilizers, reduction in energy poverty and
improving energy security for farmers.
At THINK Gas we are also exploring opportunities to partner with biogas producers to promote biogas as a cleaner, more sustainable alternative to traditional fuels.
Established in 2018, THINK Gas has licenses to operate city gas distribution networks in 13 districts in India, across the states of Punjab, MP, HP, UP & Bihar – covering an area of 47,000 sq. km and a population of over 17 million. THINK Gas practices global best standards in safety, operations, technology, and customer relationship management in City Gas Distribution aspiring to deliver clean fuel to the people, for the benefit of the nation, recently winning the CGD Company of the Year 2022 and Excellence in Marketing Award 2022 at the ET Energy World Annual Gas Awards 2022.
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes Shri Hardip Singh Rai and his Team at THINK Gas the very best.
