Board of Directors

A rich experience of more than 29 years in Natural Gas (NG) & Liquid (LPG) Pipeline & Process Industries from concept to commissioning including Projects Designing, pre-commissioning and commissioning, execution to O&M. Involved in many prestigious projects of GAIL starting from HVJ Pipeline to ongoing Urja-Ganga & Kochi-Mangalore-Bangalore Pipeline projects. Associated in construction & commissioning of Compressor stations & Process Plants of GAIL; Design, Installation & Commissioning of Instrumentation & Control Systems in Gas Turbine Compressors of various Makes, and NG Metering of Orifice, Turbine & Ultrasonic Meters. Actively involved in the designing & setup of Accredited Hazira Flow Meter Calibration facility which is the largest and only Test facility for Flow Calibration of Ultrasonic natural gas flow Meters with high pressure NG in the entire south east Asia. Instrumental in the development of GAIL's Policy & Guidelines in O&M of Pipeline, Compressor Booster Stations and Process Plants, and Project Design basis of various Projects. Headed National Gas Management Centre looking after the NG value chain, Central Integrity Management Group looking after the pipeline health & integrity of NG and LPG Pipelines and associated installations integrated with LPG, C2C3 and Petrochemical Plants, and regular coordination with Ministry, Regulatory & Statutory bodies and major suppliers and customers. Also headed the IT & BIS department of GAIL, and undertaken major initiatives leading to Systematic improvements through new technology applications to establish GAIL as a Smart Utility Company. These departments have fostered to reach a new level of excellence. Presently, heading the CGD (City Gas Distribution) vertical of GAIL which is under designing, construction and O&M stages at various parts of the six cities - Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Patna, Cuttack, Ranchi and Jamshedpur. Presented many papers at globally reputed knowledge sharing platforms.

He is also Director on the Board of Directors of M/s Bengal Gas Company Limited, Kolkata.

Shri Pralay Patra has been appointed as Managing Director of Tripura Natural Gas Company Limited (TNGCL) w.e.f 15.06.2024.

He is a B. Tech. in Instrumentation and Electronics Engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He has also acquired Management and Leadership knowledge at Oxford University, UK and Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.

He has diverse experience of 28 years with GAIL (India) Limited in various fields of Natural Gas covering Petrochemicals, Gas processing, LPG and City Gas Distribution.

He started professional career in the green field Petrochemical project at GAIL Pata (U.P.) wherein he worked in project execution and operation & maintenance. Subsequently, he worked at Gas Processing & LPG units at GAIL, Vijaipur (M.P.) wherein he had been instrumental in automation and upgradation of various control systems for technological obsolescence.

He has also extensive works in preventive vigilance and penned a ready reckoner on ‘Common irregularities in public procurement.’ Prior to assuming the current role, he was heading O&M and HSE department in Bengal Gas Company Limited (BGCL), a subsidiary of GAIL (India) Limited, as General Manager.