GAIL (India) Limited and Petronet LNG Limited partnered with the MC² Foundation and the iTIC Incubator at IIT Hyderabad to accelerate startup-led innovation in India’s energy sector. The collaboration focuses on deploying digital technologies to improve asset performance, operational efficiency and sustainability across the energy value chain. As part of the initiative, the organisations hosted the MC² Plus IGNITE Hyderabad Connect at IIT Hyderabad, bringing together energy-sector leaders, academics, startups, entrepreneurs and technology experts. The event provided a platform to identify emerging industry challenges and explore technology-driven solutions.
AI and Digital Technologies Transform Asset Management
The Hyderabad edition focused on Digital Asset Management, highlighting how emerging technologies can transform conventional energy infrastructure into intelligent, connected assets. Participants explored applications of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, advanced analytics, sensors, robotics, drones and digital twins to improve asset monitoring, maintenance and operational decision-making. These technologies can help energy companies move beyond traditional maintenance models and improve equipment reliability while reducing downtime and operating costs.
GAIL Highlights Need for Energy Technology Innovation
GAIL CMD Deepak Gupta said India is at a “remarkable inflection point”, as rapidly rising energy demand coincides with the country’s ambition to become a developed economy while maintaining affordable and reliable energy supplies and meeting its climate commitments. According to Gupta, the energy industry must simultaneously address rising demand, the transition towards cleaner energy, energy security and the development of smarter and more resilient infrastructure. He also highlighted the need to reduce dependence on imported technologies and critical systems.
From Startup Ideas to Commercial Deployment
Gupta said MC² Plus IGNITE aims to bring startups, academic institutions, research organisations and the oil and gas industry onto a common platform. The programme seeks to help promising ideas progress from laboratory research to prototypes, pilot projects, deployment and commercialisation. Importantly, Gupta stressed that innovation should ultimately be measured by successful implementation and its real-world impact. He also highlighted the potential of digital asset management to take the industry beyond preventive and predictive maintenance towards prescriptive maintenance. In this approach, digital technologies can identify potential equipment failures and recommend appropriate interventions before disruptions occur.
Five Priorities for India’s Energy Sector
Gupta outlined key priorities for the energy industry, including improving operational efficiency, strengthening technology self-reliance, advancing towards net-zero emissions, developing
self-sustaining energy systems and building domestic technological capabilities. He further called for greater emphasis on “Make in India” and “Invent in India”, with the long-term objective of developing technologies domestically, deploying them at scale and eventually exporting them to global markets.
Petronet LNG Sees Digital Opportunities Across LNG Value Chain
Akshay Kumar Singh, MD & CEO, Petronet LNG, said MC² Plus IGNITE is connecting India’s energy industry with the country’s growing startup and innovation ecosystem. He highlighted the potential of technologies such as AI, advanced sensors, robotics and digital twins to make LNG infrastructure smarter, safer, more reliable and more efficient. Singh pointed to opportunities to utilise the cold energy generated during LNG regasification. This energy could potentially support applications in areas such as data centres, cold storage and air separation units. He also highlighted opportunities to improve compressed biogas (CBG) yields and optimise value-added by-products, which could contribute to greater resource efficiency and import substitution.
IIT Hyderabad Strengthens Industry-Academia Collaboration
Prof. B. S. Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad, said the institute’s collaboration with MC² Foundation would bring together industry, academia and startups to address critical energy-sector challenges. The partnership will leverage IIT Hyderabad’s faculty expertise, research capabilities and infrastructure to help promising technologies move closer to real-world deployment. Ayush Gupta, Director (HR), GAIL, said MC² Plus IGNITE would give innovators access to mentors and support to convert real-world industry challenges into scalable solutions. He encouraged students and startup founders to challenge conventional approaches and develop technologies that can support affordable, sustainable and energy-secure growth.
MC² Plus IGNITE Focuses on Seven Innovation Themes
MC² Plus is an energy innovation accelerator envisioned by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in collaboration with leading organisations in the energy sector. The programme focuses on seven priority areas – Digital Asset Management, AI-Driven Subsurface Intelligence, Next-Generation Drilling and Well Completion, Refinery Process Intensification and Catalysis, Bio-Energy, with a focus on Compressed Biogas, Hydrogen and Mobility and Other Energy-Sector Innovations. Through these focus areas, the accelerator aims to encourage startups to develop solutions for some of the energy industry’s most pressing operational and technological challenges.
Startups to Receive Funding and Industry Support
Selected startups can receive convertible funding of up to ₹50 lakh as well as milestone-based funding of up to ₹1.5 crore. The accelerator aims to support 30 high-potential early-stage startups through a combination of mentorship, technical expertise, pilot opportunities, funding and industry networks. Consequently, the programme could help shorten the path between technology development and commercial deployment by giving startups access to industry partners and real-world testing environments.
Hyderabad Connect Brings Energy Innovation Ecosystem Together
The Hyderabad Connect also featured a panel discussion on energy innovation and the startup ecosystem, bringing together representatives from startups working in energy technology, pipeline integrity, robotics, artificial intelligence and digital solutions. In addition, IIT Hyderabad conducted a session on innovation and entrepreneurship. The programme also included a presentation by the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI) on Avinya’27, its energy startup challenge and India Energy Week 2027. As reported by psuwatch.com, the initiative highlights the growing role of AI, digitalisation, automation and startup innovation in transforming India’s energy sector. As the country balances rising energy demand with sustainability and energy-security goals, such industry-academia partnerships could accelerate the development and deployment of home-grown technologies.
