The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has introduced a wide-ranging set of emergency regulatory relaxations, supply-side interventions and stakeholder consultations to protect Indian industry from disruptions triggered by the ongoing West Asia crisis, with a focus on fuel security, raw material availability and uninterrupted manufacturing operations.
The Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) has emerged as the government’s frontline agency in shielding industry from fuel disruptions arising out of the West Asia crisis, fast-tracking approvals for compressed natural gas (CNG) and compressed biogas (CBG) infrastructure and easing regulatory bottlenecks to ensure uninterrupted supplies.
“Under PESO, multiple activities and facilitative orders have been issued which are oriented towards uninterrupted supply of fuel and gas. So under this, under compressed natural gas and compressed biogas, the dispensing stations, the licenses, the process have been expedited and now till now we can say in the month of March until date the 467 applications have been received and disposed off and on a priority basis bringing down the turnaround time and also 157 cases, the final licenses have also been granted and 38 prior approvals have also been granted in these dispensing-stations,” said Nidhi Kesaarwani, Joint Secretary, DPIIT.
Besides fuel retail infrastructure, PESO has approved 41 biogas cylinder filling and storage plants, while licences have been issued to 14 such facilities, aimed at strengthening alternative fuel capacity.
To address immediate supply constraints, permission has also been granted for LPG unloading at Porbandar jetty in March, to improve logistics and availability in western India.
The regulator has additionally permitted LNG filling in cryogenic cylinders, a step expected to decentralise LNG distribution and improve supplies to remote and non-pipeline connected areas. A temporary six-month exemption for certain CNG and CBG compressor requirements has also been allowed to accelerate commissioning of dispensing stations.
For kerosene supplies, temporary storage relaxations have been introduced, allowing storage of superior kerosene oil up to 2,500 litres and a one-time relaxation of 5,000 litres for Public Distribution System kerosene, aimed at ensuring last-mile delivery.
To reduce industrial fuel stress, the Centre advised states to grant a three-month extension for boiler certificates due for renewal for high-capacity units, including refineries, petrochemical and fertiliser plants, subject to safety checks.
Sector-specific support has also been extended. Quality control restrictions on butyl acrylate have been eased till July 10. "For glass industry the uninterrupted furnace operations was becoming a challenge so thereafter in consultation with MOPNG the availability of PNG at 80% of the average consumption of the previous 6 months have been ensured and notified and the allocationof the industrial LPG was also enhanced from 50% to 70% based on the pre-march requirement,” said Kesaarwani.
For tyres, duties on synthetic rubber and chemicals were relaxed. For glass manufacturers, PNG supply at 80% of average six-month consumption has been assured. Leather and footwear units received zero-duty relief on EVA, PVC and PU inputs.
In Morbi’s ceramic cluster, gas supply issues were addressed through consultations with Gujarat suppliers, with steps taken to ensure supply continuity and rationalised pricing for both old and new users.