Near-term concerns outweigh GAIL's attractive valuations, growing network

Street worried over the proposal to restructure the company, profitability of petrochemicals business and placement of high-priced US contracts

State-owned gas utility, GAIL (India)’s investment plan to expand the National Gas Grid and city gas distribution network over the next five years, is a positive move. The country’s largest gas pipeline operator, which has more than 11,000-km of pipeline network is expected to benefit further from these investments in the long run. However, there are near-term concerns, which are likely to weigh on the company’s financial performance and the stock.

The company had seen disappointment over new tariffs provided by the regulator for some of its pipelines such as Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HVJ). This led analysts to cut their earnings estimate for