Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) has appointed Shri Kumar Shanker as its new Managing Director. He took charge on June 5, 2026, after the company’s promoter, GAIL (India) Limited, nominated him.
Shri Kumar Shanker succeeds Shri Kamal Kishore Chatiwal, who has stepped down as Managing Director and Director of IGL and has been repatriated to GAIL with effect from the same date.
With more than three decades of experience in India’s natural gas industry, Shri Kumar Shanker brings a strong mix of technical expertise, regulatory knowledge, and leadership experience to his new role. A Chemical Engineering graduate from BITS Pilani, he has spent over 31 years working across various segments of the energy sector, including gas processing operations, petrochemical projects, corporate strategy, marketing, regulatory affairs, and city gas distribution.
Throughout his career, he has been closely involved in several key developments that have helped shape India’s natural gas landscape. His work has covered a wide range of regulatory matters, including pipeline tariffs, open access mechanisms, authorisation frameworks, and affiliate codes of conduct regulations.
Over the years, Shri Kumar Shanker has actively contributed to discussions on policy and regulatory reforms in the energy sector. He has made presentations on important industry issues before the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, NITI Aayog, and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). His ideas and recommendations have been well-received and have contributed to ongoing conversations around the future of the sector.
One of his major contributions includes the implementation of the Unified Tariff for the National Gas Grid System, a reform that is considered a milestone for India’s natural gas industry. He also played a key role in launching GAIL’s online Pipeline Open Access Portal, a real-time single-window platform designed to simplify and streamline the booking of common carrier capacity across the company’s gas pipeline network.
During his long association with GAIL, Shri Kumar Shanker worked across several business verticals and served at various locations, including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and New Delhi. He also served as Co-Chair of a sub-committee under the US-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership’s Low Emissions Gas Task Force.
Before taking over at IGL, he was serving as the Managing Director of Maharashtra Natural Gas Limited (MNGL).
Shri Kumar Shanker brings a wealth of industry experience and a deep understanding of India’s burgeoning gas sector to IGL, marking the start of a new journey with the company, and he is well placed to lead the company’s next phase of growth and development.
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