GAIL will have 25 per cent stake in the proposed joint venture with Vadodara Mahanagar Seva Sadan as its 26 per cent partner. Strategic investors and the public would jointly own the balance, the company said in a statement.

GAIL said it had also signed a memorandum of understanding with Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers to jointly explore the possibilities of setting up a coal gasification project in eastern India, at an estimated cost of Rs2,400 crore ($607 million).

The project would help produce 7.76 million cubic metres of gas, it said.