Indane is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of Indian Oil Corporation which is under the ownership of

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOP&NG) is a ministry of the government of India responsible for the exploration, production, refining, distribution, marketing, import, export, and conservation of petroleum, natural gas, petroleum ...

of the

government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. It is the world's second largest government-owned subsidiary responsible for manufacturing LPG. The brand was conceived in 1964 to bring modern cooking to Indian kitchens. The first Indane LPG connection was released on 22 October 1965 at

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. Indane serves more than 130 million families through a network of 12,500 distributors. 27% of its customers reside in semi-urban or rural markets and every second LPG cooking gas connection in India is that of Indane. The sales network is backed by 47 Indane area offices. The brand has been awarded the title of "Superbrand" by Superbrand India.

History

The marketing operations for LPG commenced in India in 1955 at

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, under the Burmah Shell Oil Company. It was not until Indian Oil took charge that it actually became a flourishing and recognizable industry. Brand Indane was conceived in 1964 and had very modest beginnings. The first Indane LPG connection was released on 22 October 1965 at Kolkata. Indane began operations in October 1965, with two dealerships in Kolkata and

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

, and a consumer base of around 2,000. At that time the concept of a cooking gas was new to the customers and they were apprehensive of keeping a gas cylinder in their kitchens, perceiving it as unsafe and a potential hazard. More than 50 years later, Indane now has a customer base of more than 98 million and its distribution network delivers more than 2 million LPG cylinders in a day.

Plants and Distribution Network

Bulk LPG is packed in LPG cylinders in bottling plants. IOCL currently has 91 bottling plants in the country to do such bottling. In a bottling plant, bulk LPG is received from the sources through pipelines, by road or by rail. This is then stored in the vessels and then filled in cylinders using sophisticated filling machines called Carousals. The world's highest LPG bottling plant – situated 3500 metres above sea level – is the Indane plant at

Leh Leh () ( lbj, ) is the joint capital and largest city of Ladakh, a union territory of India. Leh, located in the Leh district, was also the historical capital of the Kingdom of Ladakh, the seat of which was in the Leh Palace, the former res ...

. Indane has a network of more than 9,100 distributors across India with presence in more than 6,250 towns.IOCL Annual Press Conference - 2016
/ref> The sales network is backed by 45 Indane area offices.

References

{{authority control Oil and gas companies of India Government-owned companies of India 1965 introductions Indian brands