There may be some relief for GAIL in the adjusted gross revenues (AGR) issue as the Supreme Court (SC) in its February 14 ruling did not ask the company to pay the dues but asked them to seek appropriate remedy before the appropriate forum.

In his first media interaction since taking over, GAIL's chairman and managing director, For the next year, capex would be around Rs 5,900 crore. We don’t have very significant free cash but at the same time we also don’t have significant debt, said GAIL. told CNBC-TV18, “We have already withdrawn our application from the Supreme Court. The SC has permitted us to withdraw the application and so the current ruling of February 14 doesn’t apply to us.”

“We are looking for alternate remedies and we are deliberating among public sector undertakings (PSUs). Our view has been that this demand does not apply to us, so accordingly we will go for the next legal recourse,” he added.

“We have discussed this with our auditors and there is no proposal to make any contingency plan. However, we are in touch with the ministry as well and together all the PSUs are taking a common view. We will see how the ruling takes shape,” said Jain.

Speaking about the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) concept paper, he mentioned, “So far no draft rules have come. So, firstly we will have to look for the draft rules. We feel that it should not have major impact on the existing players. However, it will have to be seen in context of the rules which are to be framed because the infrastructure what we have laid will remain exclusive with us, we think.”

Talking about capex plans, he said, “For the next year it is around Rs 5,900 crore. We don’t have very significant free cash but at the same time we also don’t have significant debt.”

When asked about margin improvement, he stated, “We have been able to run petchem business operationally at full capacity. Though there was some price pressure in last two quarters, we expect things to improve little bit.”