GAIL's PANKH Initiative Takes Flight with a Rs 500 Crore Startup Fund

Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, announced that GAIL (India) Limited has increased its startup investment fund from Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore for the financial year 2024–25. This significant expansion is part of GAIL’s ‘PANKH’ initiative, aimed at fostering innovation among young entrepreneurs and accelerating advancements in the energy sector.

The minister emphasized that this move reflects the government's commitment to entrepreneurship-driven economic growth. Currently, GAIL supports 38 startups working in diverse domains including natural gas, pipelines, petrochemicals, renewable energy, and energy storage. These ventures have generated nearly 1,000 jobs over the past three years.

The broader oil and gas sector is also playing a pivotal role in nurturing innovation. Six Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have collectively established a startup fund of Rs 550 crore, of which Rs 290 crore has already been deployed across 303 startups.

India now boasts over 1.5 lakh recognised startups and 120 unicorns. In support of this momentum, the Union Budget 2025–26 has allocated Rs 10,000 crore under the Fund of Funds scheme to promote deeptech development and AI-driven platforms.

News by Rahul Yelligetti.