Buoyed by the decontrol of diesel prices, Reliance Industries will reopen all its 1,400 petrol pumps this fiscal. RIL and Essar Oil Ltd, the only other private refiner in India, had together captured about 17 per cent of the domestic retail market for diesel and 10 per cent of that of petrol by 2006, before heavily subsidised fuel sales by the state-run firms took a toll on the private firms' sales.
"Over 320 retail outlets are already operational. The target is to restart the entire network of 1,400 outlets in 2015-16," RIL said at an investor presentation. RIL had shut down all its 1,432 pumps around March 2008 after it suffered huge losses as it could not match the subsidised price offered by the public sector firms. The government in June 2010 deregulated or freed petrol pricing. This allowed Essar to re-enter the retailing arena, selling only petrol from most of its 1,400 outlets. Diesel, the country's most consumed fuel, was deregulated in October last year and since then the private retailers have again entered the market.
Reliance is targeting aggressive volumes in the bulk diesel market after the de-regulation, the company said.RIL will leverage technology to provide superior customer value across the network. The aim is to provide consistent customer experience across all touch points through an efficient mix of people, processes and technology, the company added. Essar has started diesel sales from all its outlets and has expanded its network to 1,600, which is likely to go up to 2,500 in a year.
RIL, which reported over Rs 6000 crore net profit for the last quarter of 2014-15, had a market share of 14.3 per cent in diesel and 7.2 per cent in petrol in 2006. Reliance is again starting its fleet management programme wherein large fleet operators such as truckers are given smartcards that drivers could use to buy fuel without cash.
The purchase can be monitored online, thereby eliminating pilferage or theft. RIL's present network comprises about 900 retail outlets owned by the company and around 532 by the dealers. Since 2006, state-run oil retailers have reportedly increased their network to about 51,870
PTI
