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According to data available from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell of the oil ministry, at the end of November, there were 1,00,266 petrol pumps in the country – the third largest after the US and China with a much larger geographical area.
More than 90 percent of the pumps are owned by state-owned companies like Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited
(BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL).
Russia’s Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy Ltd. is the largest private fuel retailer with 6,921 outlets, followed by 2,114 stations owned by joint ventures. Reliance Industries Limited And B.P. Shell has 346 outlets.
PPAC data shows that the petrol pump network has almost doubled from 50,451 stations in 2015. That year, the share of 2,967 outlets owned by private companies was about 5.9 percent. At present their share in the total market is 9.3 percent.
Private sector participation in the fuel retail outlet business began in fiscal year 2004 with 27 pumps.
India has the third largest petrol pump network in the world. Highest in America. While there is no official data on the number of outlets in the US, a 2024 report put the number of retail gas stations in the country at 1,96,643. Some outlets may have closed since then.
For China, a report last year put the number at 115,228 gas stations.
Sinopec says on its website that it is China’s largest fuel retailer with more than 30,000 in-service gas stations.
Although China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) is larger in size, its number of outlets dwarfs Indian market leader IOC’s 41,664 outlets. BPCL has the second largest network with 24,605 stations, followed by HPCL with 24,418 outlets.
The share of rural outlets in total pumps is around 29 per cent, up from 22 per cent a decade ago. There has also been a change in the outlets, now selling alternative fuels like CNG and EV charging stations are available along with regular petrol and diesel dispensers.
According to industry officials, private participation in Indian fuel retailing has been limited due to the government’s indirect control over pricing.
Even though the pricing of petrol and diesel was freed up a decade ago, the government maintains control over it through its majority ownership in retail companies.
State-owned fuel retailers stopped daily price revision in line with cost in November 2021. Even before this, there were times when their pump rates were below cost, making retailing by the private sector economically unviable.
Furthermore, congestion at retail pumps has meant that per-pump throughput has fallen, leaving some outlets on less busy routes at a loss.