SpiceGas to set up 700 gas stations

SpiceGas, the auto gas brand of India’s Spice Energy Group, has announced plans to invest around Rs4 billion (US$83 million) over the next seven years to set up 700 gas stations across India, said a report. SpiceGas’s CEO Raman Chauhan has said that the company is targeting annual revenues of Rs16.94 billion (US$354 million) by 2013 and Rs30.66 billion (US$641 million) by 2018. SpiceGas is planning to set up around 40 stations in the first year of expansion in the Indian states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. The company is reportedly considering both organic and inorganic growth, with 20% of the proposed gas station network to be company-owned while the remaining will be held by franchisees. (December 1, 2008)