Indane is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of Indian Oil Corporation which is under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of the

government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. 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, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. 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 India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in 1955 at

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, 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 (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

, 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 130 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 () is a city in Indian-administered Ladakh in the Kashmir#Kashmir_dispute, disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the WP:TE ...

. Indane has a network of more than 12,500 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