Gail loses ground

Gail India is amongst the top losers on the BSE currently, down 3% at Rs.304.70, inches close to its 52-week low of Rs.303.10. Intra day low was at Rs.303.75.

The stock is deep in the red today on a newspaper report which stated that the Tamil Nadu Government has objected to GAIL India's pipeline project in the state and has asked the company to stop installing the pipeline immediately. The Tamil Nadu Govt has stated that it will not allow the company to lay pipelines on agriculture land and would need to put them on roadsides, along the national highway. Gail had planned to connect Tamil Nadu to Karnataka through this pipeline.

The Kochi-Kottanad-Mangalore-Bangalore gas pipeline project will pass through seven districts of Tamil Nadu traversing over 300 km through the state. Such pipelines are always laid to cover the shortest distances and if it needs to use national highway roadsides, it could prove to be expensive.