The Full form of GAIL is Gas Authority Of India Ltd. Gail (India) Limited is India’s principal gas transmission and marketing company. It is Government of India undertaking company and is known as the largest state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company in India. The headquarters of GAIL is situated in New Delhi. It was established in August 1984 as a Central Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
Its business segments include: petrochemical, liquid hydrocarbon, natural gas, city gas distribution, exploration, and production, liquefied petroleum gas transmission, GAILTEL and electricity generation. It was given the Maharatna status on 1 February, 2013 by the Government of India. GAIL was supposed to construct, operate, and maintain Hazira-Vijaypur-Jagdishpur (HVJ) pipeline project, this being one of the largest cross-country natural gas pipeline projects in the world. This 1750-kilometre-long pipeline laid the foundation for natural gas market development in India and was built at a cost of ₹17 billion (US$240 million).
Between 1991 and 1993, three liquefied petroleum gas plants were constructed and some regional pipelines were acquired and GAIL began its gas transportation in various parts of India. GAIL stated its city gas distribution in 1997 in New Delhi by setting up nine compressed natural gas (CNG) stations.