In the last 3 years, Petrol Bunks commissioned in less than 5% of the advertised locations
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 12, 2016
As per the latest data shared by the government, 16 States or Union Territories have more than 5 functional retail Petrol Bunks each for a lakh population. Petrol bunks were commissioned in less than 5% of the advertised locations in the last 3 years.
There is an ever rising demand for petroleum products in India with a population of more than 1.3 billion. As per the latest data shared by the government, only 16 States/UTs have more than 5 functional retail petrol outlets for every lakh population.
Punjab has most number of functional petrol bunks per lakh population
Most densely populated states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and West Bengal have most number of functional petrol bunks as expected. But these states have less than 5 functional petrol bunks for every 1 lakh people in the state which is an indicator of demand and access to petroleum products in these states.
States like Punjab, Haryana, Goa and Sikkim have a density more than 7 functional bunks for every lakh people. Puducherry and Daman & Diu have a density more than 11 functional bunks for lakh people largely on account of the lower population. Tripura, Assam, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal, Nagaland and Manipur have less than 3 functional petrol bunks for every lakh population.
Demand exists, but Commissioning is a slow process
As per the data shared by the government, the number of retail petrol bunks pending to be commissioned as of October 2016, is more than 600 in states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. And all these 4 states have less than 6 functional petrol bunks for every lakh people. Haryana, which has more than 11 functional petrol bunks for every lakh people also has approximately 500 Retail Outlets yet to be commissioned. The letter of intent (LOI) is issued for all these outlets.  States like Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Chandigarh have 0 pending outlets.
IOCL commands a more than 50% share in retail outlets
Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) are the three major Oil Marketing Companies in India and all of them PSUs. IOCL commands the major market share with more than 50% of all the functional retail outlets owned or operated by IOCL and its dealers.
BPCL has the least number of functional petrol bunks in the rural areas followed by HPCL & IOCL.
Petrol Bunks commissioned in less than 5% of the advertised locations
The following process is followed in commissioning a new petrol bunk.
State wise data for Locations Advertised, Response Received, scrutinized, selected and commissioned are available for the last 3 years and for the current year till September 2016.
The data clearly indicates that responses were received for only 45.49% of the locations advertised for. This is a matter of serious concern as there seems to be a lack of interest in setting up petrol bunks.  In fact, this percentage drops for every subsequent stage in the entire process and new petrol bunks were commissioned in only 4.3% of the total number of Locations advertised for in the last 3 years.
In the following States/UTs, the response rate for the locations advertised is high, but number of locations commissioned is zero. Except for Goa & the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the rest of the states have a low number of functional petrol bunks for every lakh people.
The following are the top five states in terms of the percentage of commissioned petrol bunks of the locations advertised for.