CDMA users least satisfied: Survey

India's biggest car maker Maruti Udyog Ltd is expected to cut costs by around Rs 100 crore every year following the restoration of supplies of compressed natural gas (CNG) to industrial units in and around Delhi by the state-owned gas firm Gail (India) Ltd.

Gail (India) restored the supply of CNG to industrial units in the national capital region recently, a move which will result in significant savings on energy spending to several companies like Maruti and Samtel Color and Hindustan Sanitaryware.

Complete stoppage of CNG supply to Maruti's Gurgaon unit in May 2002 forced it to use diesel gensets for power supply.

Maruti had then said that the closure of the CNG supplies would mean an escalation in fuel costs by around Rs 90 crore a year. Company officials declined to comment.

According to industry sources, even though the cost of CNG has gone up in the last two years, there will be a significant cost reduction after the resumption of supplies.

"The total cost benefits for manufacturers based in this region would be close to Rs 200 crore a year," said Satish K Kaura, chairman and managing director, Samtel Color.

The supply of around 1.7 million kg of CNG per day to industries was discontinued after the Supreme Court directed Gail to meet the requirements of public transport buses on a priority basis. Companies that were using CNG were forced to go in for costlier alternatives like LPG or diesel.

According to Kaura, the savings for the largest picture tube maker Samtel alone would be in the tune of Rs 30 crore this year.

"CNG supply will only get better with the Petronet LNG's Dahej port becoming operational earlier this year," added Kaura.

When the supplies were stopped in 2002, ceramic product manufacturers based in Delhi, western UP and Rajastan were the worst hit because most of them had started using CNG for their furnaces and kilns.

"Operating furnaces based on deisel and LPG are twice as expensive. With CNG, we will save close to Rs 10 crore a year," said RC Rawat, company secretary, Kajaria Ceramics.

Hindustan Sanitaryware, which has a facility at Bahadurgarh near Delhi, said that it expects to save Rs 3.5-4 crore annually in fuel costs after the renewal of CNG supplies.