India to soon have its first gas trading exchange: Dharmendra Pradhan

India will soon have its first gas trading exchange on the lines of existing online platforms that trade in power, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday.

"A gas exchange platform is in the interest of the Indian consumer and in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to the COP21 agenda of action on climate change," Pradhan said in a press conference at the CERAWEEK India Energy Forum organised by IHS Markit.

He said that setting up a "gas exchange platform" is driven by the idea that the pricing in the sector should eventually be fully governed by the market mechanism.

"Our idea is to put components of domestic gas into this platform...of putting LNG, into this transparent bidding mechanism," he said.

"The pricing in gas will be market driven and it should be unform across sgments. After all, it has been decided that the price fornew production will be market-determined," he added.

The Minister also said that he would be soon putting up a note to the cabinet for its approval of a gas exchange.