Mahanagar Gas ties up with postal dept for bill collection

Gas distribution company Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL) has tied up with the department of postal services for collection of bills of its household consumers across Mumbai, the company said Wednesday.

Payment of MGL bills through cheque or cash would be possible through the postal department's network of 170 post offices in Mumbai.

"In addition, doorstep collection of bills is to be introduced shortly on the customer's request," A K Purwaha, managing director, said. MGL already has arrangements with various public and private sector banks for bill payment facility in Mumbai, he said.

Mahanagar Gas caters to over 200,000 household customers of piped natural gas in Mumbai, while it also operates 69 compressed natural gas filling stations for automobiles in the city.

The company was targeting an additional 50,000 household customers every year and also planned to increase its CNG filling stations to 125 by Jun. 2005, Purwaha said.

Mahanagar Gas would be paying a nominal charge of 5 rupees to the postal department for every collection made, a company official said.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency Icra today assigned the high safety 'LAA+' rating to the Rs 18 crore non-convertible debentures of Mahanagar Gas.

The rating factored MGL's monopoly in the Greater Mumbai gas distribution licence area, its diversified business portfolio and preferential access to gas supplies from GAIL, Icra said in a release here.

The rating also took into account the company's strong financial position and availability of sizeable liquid surpluses, it added.