‘PSU oil Cos must share feasibility study for new outlets’

Making it clear that he was not against the arrival of new competition in the form of new dealers, the official said: “If given a chance a large number of petrol bunk dealers would surrender their dealerships, take back their land and look at newer opportunities.”

On Sunday, the three companies – Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation – announced their plans to add 5,125 new dealers in the state. The companies as on April 1 had a retail network of 4,844 petrol bunks in Tamil Nadu and if the new plans fructify, then the total would go up to 9,969 outlets.

“The oil company officials had said the annual consumption of petrol is growing by eight per cent and for diesel it is four per cent. If that is the case then the expansion of retail network should also be about 10 per cent of the existing ones and not more than doubling of numbers,” KP Murali, President, TNDA said.

He said the average sales per month per outlet in Tamil Nadu is about 120 kilo litres. The sales growth is happening in select pockets and not across the state.

“The oil companies should provide the potential dealers a viability report of the petrol bunk in the areas they intend to put up and also the probable return of investment (ROI). This would enable the potential entrants to take an informed decision. “The oil companies should also provide an exit clause for the new and existing players. In most cases the land on which the petrol bunks are located are leased to the oil companies for long period by the bunk owners.. As a result many of the existing dealers are not able to exit,” Murali said.

“If given a chance nearly 50 per cent of the petrol bunk owners who have given their land on long term lease to the oil companies will exit the business as the returns are not lucrative as compared to other types of business.”