India, June 14 -- India's ambition to expand the role of natural gas in its energy mix has long rested on two pillars: physical infrastructure and market reform. Considerable progress has been made on the first. Pipeline networks have expanded, LNG import capacity has increased, and city gas distribution has spread across hundreds of districts. Yet infrastructure alone does not create a functioning market. For a network-based commodity like natural gas, the rules governing access to pipelines determine whether infrastructure operates as a closed system or as a competitive marketplace.

This is precisely why the proposed Access Code for Common Carrier and Contract Carrier Natural Gas Pipelines, 2025, marks an important regulatory milestone...