British Gas India on Friday said the proposed initial public offer of Mahanagar Gas Ltd has been put off until 2005 since the Mumbai gas distribution firm was yet to consolidate its business.
 
BG and Gail India own 49.7 per cent of the company, while the Maharashtra government holds the remaining.
 
"Mahanagar Gas will require another two years to expand and consolidate its business before launching an IPO," Nigel Shaw, chief executive officer of BG India, told reporters in New Delhi.
 
Shaw said Mahanagar Gas, which sells 40 per cent of its total one million standard cubic metres per day of gas as CNG for consumption by automobile users in Mumbai, is planning to expand into Navi Mumbai and Pune.
 
It is also planning to tap more of the huge industrial market in the state. Its current sales comprises 50 per cent to industrial users, and the balance 10 per cent is sold to domestic users.

Mahanagar Gas is also planning to lay 150 kilometres of steel and 3,000 kilometres of polyethylene pipe to connect domestic, commercial and industrial premises, he added.