Press Releases
[New Delhi, June 23, 2005]
GAIL records Net Profit of Rs 1954 crore in FY 2004-05
(Sl. No. ND/CC/05/49)
The year 2004-2005
GAIL (India) Limited has recorded growth in all key physical as well as financial parameters in the Financial Year 2004-05. According to the audited figures, Turnover (excluding internal consumption and net of excise duty) in the year 2004-05 went up by 15 per cent to Rs. 12,412 crore from Rs. 10,827 crore in FY 2003-04. The Profit After Tax during the year 2004-05 was up by 5 per cent to Rs. 1,954 crore from Rs. 1,869 crore in the previous year.
The bottomline growth of 5 per cent was achieved despite 166 per cent increase in subsidy sharing in domestic LPG and PDS kerosene from Rs. 428 crores in 2003-04 to Rs. 1,137 crores in 2004-05. Without the subsidy element, the PBT would have increased by 24 per cent to Rs. 4,008 crores and PAT would have increased by 27 per cent to Rs. 2,727 crores.
Top line growth is a cumulative result of the overall increase in the natural gas business, polymer sales and also in LPG transmission.
During the year 2004-05, consolidated financial statements of GAIL, incorporating the accounts of subsidiary, JVs and associated companies have been prepared for the first time.
Based on the consolidated financial statements, the total earnings of GAIL were Rs. 14,207 crores. The consolidated Gross Margin was Rs. 4,116 crores, the Profit Before Tax was Rs. 2,982 crores and Profit After Tax was Rs. 2,024 crores.
The Earning Per Share (EPS) increased to Rs. 23 per share in the year 2004-05 as against Rs. 22 per share in the year 2003-04. The EPS as per consolidated statement was Rs. 24 per share, while book value has increased from Rs. 88 to Rs. 101 per share.
During the year 2004-05, fixed assets to the tune of Rs. 637 crores were capitalized.
The Board of Directors has recommended payment of total dividend at the rate of 80 per cent on the paid-up share capital of the company for the financial year 2004-05, which includes interim dividend at the rate of 40 per cent on the paid-up share capital, already declared and paid.
Natural Gas
Natural Gas continues to constitute the core business of GAIL. During the year 2004-05, Gas Sales have increased by 8 per cent to 68.10 MMSCMD from 62.84 MMSCMD in the previous year. The Gas Transmission has increased by 14 per cent to 71.56 MMSCMD from 62.84 MMSCMD in the previous financial year.
Customer Service has been adopted as the key area of emphasis to achieve business success in natural gas business too. To encourage Gas and energy conservation by the end users of gas, technical and value added services are being made available to the consumers. Award for excellence for efficient usage of gas were also given to foster the spirit of gas conservation amongst the gas customers.
In the area of gas transmission business, the entire 5,400 Kms of Gas Pipeline Network achieved a level of 99.99 per cent uninterrupted availability. Third Party Access (TPA) for gas pipeline is already in place and the Dahej – Vijaipur pipeline system is already being used by IOCL and BPCL right up to Delhi. GAIL has put in place ship or pay commitment for new pipeline projects. To bring synergy, GAIL has adopted a Gas Management System (GMS) to handle multiple sources of supply and delivery of gas in a co-mingled form and for smooth interface between shippers, customers, transporters and suppliers.
LPG and other Liquid Hydrocarbons
In 2004-2005, total Liquid Hydrocarbon production including LPG was over 1.39 million metric tones as compared to previous year’s production of 1.37 million MT. The company produced 10.95 lakh MT of LPG during the year against a production of 10.89 lakh MT in the last fiscal. The Propane production was 1,82,000 MT – an increase of 16 per cent over the previous year’s production of 1,57,000 MT. The Pentane production was up by 11 per cent to 58,000 MT during the year 2004-05 as against 52,000 MT produced in the year 2003-04.
The Propane sales increased by 12 per cent to 1,80,000 MT from 1,61,000 MT in the previous year, whereas the Pentane sales up 10 per cent to 57,000 MT from 52,000 MT in the previous year.
LPG Pipeline
LPG transmission through LPG pipelines was 2.14 million MT in the year 2004-05 as against 1.84 million MT in 2003-2004, thus recording an increase of 16 per cent.
Petrochemicals
During 2004-2005, the production of polymer has increased by 13 per cent registering 2.99 lakh MT as against 2.64 lakh MT in the previous year. The polymer sales increased by 17 per cent to 3.19 lakh MT from 2.73 lakh MT in the last financial year
GAIL has undertaken Total Quality Management (TQM) exercise. The prime grade production has increased to 99.92 per cent in the HDPE plant in year 2004-2005. GAIL is making door delivery of polymers to customers. Immediate return and replacement on product complaint handling has been started based on customer feedback from customer value management programmes. An online access to customer ledger has been started for instant access to e-ledgers. Extension of SAP software / connectivity to consignment stockists has been established.
GAIL has completed the de-bottlenecking of the Swing Plant at Pata at a cost of Rs.59 crores for increasing Polyethylene production capacity from the existing 160,000 TPA to 210,000 TPA. Further, the Rs. 647-crore Petrochemical Plant Expansion Project for increasing Ethylene capacity from existing 3,00,000 TPA to 4,40,000 TPA with an additional cracking furnace and a new HDPE plant of 100,000 TPA capacity is underway.
Telecom
GAIL’s telecom business unit – ‘GAILTEL’ which has approximately 8,500 km of OFC with 99.97 per cent availability, offers highly dependable bandwidth for telecom service providers in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi. The first to become operational in the Delhi-Mumbai route, GAILTEL has become a formidable force with its network connecting 73 cities based on DWDM technology. Today, GAILTEL’s North-West-Central network corridor accounts for 65 per cent of India’s long distance traffic.
IT Initiatives
GAIL is one of the prime IT users in the country. All the offices of GAIL are connected through Local Area Networking (LAN) and Wide Area Networking (WAN) using high capacity optical fiber network with redundancy.
For ensuring faster, efficient and secured online services on 24X7X365 basis of various online business processes, centralized state-of-art datacenter ‘GIGALINK’ has been setup at Noida. To reduce the operating cycle time, ERP has been implemented at all major locations covering all business verticals.
For work efficiency, lesser paperwork and better utilization of manpower, e-receivables, e-payables along with personal e-banking have been implemented for our customers, vendors and employees.
Gas Sourcing Opportunities
GAIL as a dominant player in the gas market is poised to play a major role in LNG sourcing and creation of pipeline infrastructure to complete the chain of energy security that the Indian Government intends to pursue. Countries like Abu Dhabi, Oman, Yemen, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia are important prospects that GAIL is currently exploring actively for LNG sourcing. Moreover, as one of the promoters of PLL, GAIL has a participating stake in the Dahej Terminal and the upcoming Kochi Terminal in Kerala. Recently, the Government of India has entrusted GAIL with the responsibility of reviving the LNG terminal at Dabhol in Maharashtra, as well as sourcing of LNG for the terminal. GAIL is exploring the opportunity to take 33 per cent equity participation in the proposed Ennore Regassification Terminal to be set up in Tamil Nadu and will undertake marketing of 3 million MT of R-LNG from the Ennore terminal. GAIL has already signed the Sales Purchase Agreement for import of LNG from Iran for 2 MMTPA (40 of the LNG being imported by India from Iran).
Ongoing Projects
GAIL is presently implementing the Dahej – Uran pipeline project at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,831 crores. A project to lay pipeline from Thulendi to Phulpur at an estimated cost of Rs. 220 crores.. The Vijaipur-Kota pipeline project at an estimated cost of Rs. 300 crores is expected to be completed by July 2006.
GAIL is laying a 98 km long pipeline from Jagoti to Pithampur via Indore at an investment of Rs. 195 crore besides another 85 km gas pipeline from Kelaras to Malanpur via Banmore at an investment of Rs. 105 crore. The above lines are designed to transport gas to the cities of Dewas, Ujjain, Indore, Pithampur and Gwalior. These two projects are expected to be completed by July 2006.
City Gas Projects
GAIL has identified 28 cities for City Gas Projects under ‘Project Blue Sky’. City Gas Projects are in operation in Delhi and Mumbai under joint venture operations, supplying Piped Natural Gas (PNG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to retail customers including domestic, commercial, industrial and automobiles. GAIL formed a JV with BPCL, viz. Central UP Gas Limited (CUPGL), for setting up CNG stations in Kanpur city. GAIL is also preparing itself to market LPG from the 1st of April 2006.
Globalisation
GAIL has set up a wholly- owned subsidiary company - named as GAIL Global (Singapore) Pte Ltd in Singapore. Under its globalization initiatives, GAIL has secured participation in city gas / CNG companies retail gas companies in Egypt, namely, Fayum Gas Company, NATGAS and Shell CNG Egypt and has acquired equity stake in China Gas Holding Company in China.