How many compressed natural gas (CNG) stations does India have, and why does the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) print 8,916 in one table and 8,001 in another?

The PPAC Ready Reckoner counts 8,916 compressed natural gas (CNG) stations on 1 April 2026, up 10.52 percent in a year, from city gas data. A second table shows 8,001 oil-company retail outlets with CNG, compressed biogas or liquefied natural gas. They count different things.

Two counts, two sources

• 8,916 CNG stations on 1 April 2026. It sits in the city gas tables (Table 3.7 A and Table 3.8), sourced to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). The same table gives 8,067 a year earlier and 6,861 on 1 April 2024.
• 8,001 outlets in Table 6.9, headed oil industry alternate fuel infrastructure at retail outlets, sourced to oil companies. Its column covers CNG, compressed biogas (CBG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) together.
• The gap is 915. The book does not reconcile the two. Our reading: the first counts every CNG station in the city gas networks, the second counts only oil-company retail outlets and pools three gases. Do not add them and do not mix them in one sentence.

How fast it is growing

From 6,861 to 8,067 is 1,206 new stations in the year to April 2025. From 8,067 to 8,916 is 849 in the year to April 2026. Over the two years that is 2,055 more, about 30 percent. PPAC's own text puts the latest year at 10.52 percent (8,916 / 8,067 = 1.1052).

Where the stations are (1 April 2026)

• Uttar Pradesh 1,367, Maharashtra 1,309, Gujarat 1,102. These three hold 42.4 percent of the national total.
• Haryana 603, Karnataka 516, Tamil Nadu 503, Rajasthan 496, Delhi 457, Madhya Pradesh 424.
• Delhi fell from 508 stations in 2025 to 457, while Karnataka rose from 455 to 516. The table does not say why Delhi fell.
• Several states and union territories show no stations at all, among them Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Ladakh.

What a station count does not tell a fleet

It does not say whether a station can serve a heavy truck, how long the queue is, or what the supply pressure is. Before you commit a route to CNG vehicles, check the stations on that route yourself and keep the receipts: CNG is bought by the kilogram, and the kilograms on the receipt are the number your records need.

Checking the arithmetic

• Top three states: 1,367 + 1,309 + 1,102 = 3,778; 3,778 / 8,916 = 42.4 percent
• One-year growth: 8,916 minus 8,067 = 849; 849 / 8,067 = 10.52 percent
• Two-year growth: 8,916 minus 6,861 = 2,055; 2,055 / 6,861 = 29.95 percent
• Gap between the two tables: 8,916 minus 8,001 = 915 stations

All station counts are as printed in the PPAC Ready Reckoner 2025-26. The state rows add up to 8,916 in Table 3.7 A.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so CNG bought for your vehicles shows up once the receipts are uploaded. It does not locate stations or check supply on your route.

• CNG truck against diesel truck
• Electric against CNG three-wheeler
• CNG three-wheeler cargo emissions
• Methane from CNG and LNG vehicles

Sources: Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, PPAC Ready Reckoner, year 2025-26

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. Counts and growth are as printed in the PPAC Ready Reckoner 2025-26 (Tables 3.7 A, 3.8 and 6.9). The explanation of the 915 gap is our reading; PPAC does not state it.