THE SPIRIT OF MOTOR SPIRIT (PETROL)

Every now and then we come across news that Oil reserves are getting depleted at an alarming rate and this would make Oil to disappear in the next 2-3 decades. The prices of the most essential source of energy, Petrol and Diesel, are rising at both in the international as well as national market. Thus this made me to go and look at the reality at the grass root level i.e. at Petrol pump.

I visited the Petrol pump of Indian Oil located on ECR road and operated by TAMIL NADU TOURISM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LTD.  to see the current situation of fuel  in Tamil Nadu. To my astonishment, diesel dispensing units were all dry and only MS (Motor Spirit) also known as Petrol was only being sold at the Retail Outlet (Petrol Pump). When I inquired from the manager of the petrol pump, I got to know that these dry out situation has arise due to increase in demand of diesel in recent times due to frequent power cuts and also due to sudden shutdown of some units in refinery from where the fuel was supplied. This news was also seen in daily newspapers. 

Even for the MS (Petrol) there was a huge line and people were waiting for their turn. The manager was kind enough to show me the detail of sales being made in the month of April and below is the data:

MS- Rs 5895907(82kl)

Xtra Premium- Rs 614515(9kl)

HSD (Diesel)- Rs 19527510(450kl)

Xtra Mile- Rs 653374(15kl)

Some observations:

• When asked about the Axis ATM installed at the Retail Outlet, manager told that it is a part of Non Fuel Revenue source for it as monthly rental from the ATM adds to the profit of Petrol Pump

• The servo oil which was sold at the outlet was having a good sale for two-stroke engines i.e. for scooters but the sale for 4T oil was minimal. Manager explained this phenomenon as due to the presence of more number of scooter/bike driven population then 4 wheelers

• For the branded product i.e. for Xtra Premium and Xtra Mile there were only two regular customers who bought this and the sale of this is approx 100lts for whole month.

• People buy branded product only when there is no product of normal grade i.e. due to urgency people are compelled to buy branded product though they don’t perceive any benefit out of branded products.

• The condition of toilet and bathrooms installed at the Retail Outlet was not  good and thus it was not being used by regular buyer/customer but used by only employees/staff of petrol pump

• There was no facility of drinking water and which added to the dissatisfaction of customers. Though these facilities were shown on the sign board outside the Petrol Pump but actual state of affairs wasn't good at all.

• Tyre pressure checking machine wasn’t working and could not be used.

•  Most of the transaction was done in cash and credit/debit cards were minimal in use.

      Thus from the overall observation of the operations at a petrol pump, one can easily see the wide scope for Govt. PSU's to upgrade their brand value through these retails outlets before they are outrun by private players if deregulation happens.

            by - MANISH LADKANI (FT13439)

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