The office of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) may be hived off from the Petroleum Ministry. And it may be made an independent regulator. A proposal in this regard is said to be under processing for approval by the Union Cabinet, following the Petroleum Ministry's acceptance.

This novel idea to boost oil and gas production in the country was delivered by a committee headed by Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant.

Set up on the direction of the PM last October, the inter-ministerial committee included Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, Petroleum Secretary M M Kutty, DGH Director General V P Joy, and ONGC Chairman and MD Shashi Shanker.