Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and its partner Adani Gas Ltd will invest about Rs 9,600 crore in rolling out infrastructure for retailing CNG to automobiles and piped natural gas to household kitchens in 10 cities for which they recently won licences for, the state-owned firm said on Monday.

The two firms in 2013 had incorporated a 50:50 joint venture company, IndianOil-Adani Gas Pvt Ltd (IOAGPL), for implementation of city gas distribution (CGD) projects in various cities in the country.

Over the years, IOAGPL participated in various bid rounds for city gas licence conducted by Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB).

It as on date has licences for 19 geographical areas (GAs), IOC said in a notice to shareholders. The notice was to seek shareholder nod for providing corporate guarantees to banks on behalf of IOAGPL furnishing of performance bank guarantees to PNGRB to fulfil the licence conditions.

“In line with PNGRB regulations, authorization to the successful entity is issued by PNGRB only after the entity submits Performance Bank Guarantee (PBG) from any scheduled bank for a pre-determined amount for specific GA,” IOC said in the notice.

Shareholders will vote on the proposal at IOC’s annual general meeting (AGM) in Mumbai on August 28.

City gas distribution (CGD) projects, which entail retailing CNG to automobiles and marketing piped natural gas to household kitchens for cooking as well as to industries for use as fuel, are typically long duration projects wherein demand build-up is gradual and revenue generation becomes appreciable only in the later years. “IOAGPL is still in process of development of CGD Projects in its authorized GAs,” IOC said.

The funding required for capital expenditure has to be met from equity contribution/debt financing, it said.