Natural gas transmission conglomerate, GAIL (India) Ltd is looking to expand its presence in petrochemicals and diversify into downstream businesses in order to capture market share beyond the natural gas space, Chairman and Managing Director Manoj Jain said in the company's annual report for 2020-21 (Aprl-March).

The company has 17 percent market share in the petrochemicals space with a portfolio of linear low-density polyethylene and high-density polyethylene. Polyethylene is a petroleum-made plastic polymer, which is used in packaging films, wire and cable insulation, and squeeze bottles, among others. The state-owned company will now diversify its offerings with polypropylene, which is a tough and rigid form of plastic used in making machine parts and equipment.

 The company is setting up two polypropylene units--one in Usar, Maharashtra and the other in Pata, Uttar Pradesh, taking its total capacity to 1.6 mln trillion per annum in the petrochemical space, Jain said. According to the annual report, GAIL will invest about 88 billion rupees towards the projects. The company is also exploring opportunities in certain specialty chemicals, Jain said. At present, GAIL operates about 12,500 km, or 75 percent, of the total natural gas pipeline network in the country.

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