Govt Considering Home Delivery Of Fuel

The government is exploring the possibility for home delivery of petrol and diesel to consumers, according to the Petroleum Ministry. The ministry said on Twitter that consumers may avail of home delivery if they make a pre-booking to cut long queues at fuel stations. "Options being explored where petro products may be door delivered to consumers on pre-booking," one tweet said. "This would help consumers avoid spending excessive time and long queues at fuel stations," the Petroleum Ministry added.

“Options being explored where petro products may be door delivered to consumers on pre booking” @dpradhanbjp (1/2)

— Petroleum Ministry (@PetroleumMin) April 21, 2017

As many as 350 million people are estimated to visit fuel stations across the country every day and annually transactions at fuel stations account for over Rs 2,500 crore. India is the world's third largest consumer of oil, and most of the fuel stations are controlled by the government. State-owned firms Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) own over 95 per cent of nearly 58,000 fuel stations in the country.

“This would help consumers avoid spending excessive time and long queues at fuel stations” @dpradhanbjp (2/2)

— Petroleum Ministry (@PetroleumMin) April 21, 2017

As part of government efforts to streamline fuel prices, oil companies will introduce daily price revision of petrol and diesel in five cities from 1 May 2017. The practice is expected to be rolled out across the country soon. The pilot for daily revision of petrol and diesel prices will be first implemented in Puducherry, Vizag in Andhra Pradesh, Udaipur in Rajasthan, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand and Chandigarh. Currently, fuel prices are revised on the 1st and 16th of every month based on average international price of the fuel in the preceding fortnight and currency exchange rate. After the daily price revision is introduced, rates at fuel stations will reflect daily movement in international oil prices as well as Rupee-US dollar fluctuations.