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Raghuvir Srinivasan

The ONGC Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Subir Raha, filling a car with petrol from the company's new outlet `OVaL' in Mangalore on Saturday.

Mangalore , March 19

THE bugle was sounded here on Saturday for the start of a pricing war in the petroleum retailing business, with the launch by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) of its first retail outlet for petrol and diesel.

ONGC will sell the two fuels at a price lower than the competition. The reduction is, however, camouflaged as loyalty discounts, with maximum savings for those who buy the most from ONGC's outlets.

For instance, if you are a car owner driving into an OVaL outlet, you will be welcomed with a one-time discount of Re 1 per litre of petrol and Re 0.50 per litre of diesel. Thereafter, you will get a discount of Re 0.50 for every litre of petrol purchased till you reach the 250-litre mark. The discount increases progressively thereafter with a maximum of Re 1 for every litre once you cross the 551-litre mark. The best part of this is that you will be eligible for the discount even if you enrol in a particular OVaL outlet but shift thereafter to another OVaL outlet anywhere in the country.

OVaL is the retail brand of ONGC, and the outlet has been designed by the National Institute of Design. Every outlet will feature a convenience store and other utilities such as tyres, lubricants and ATMs.

Listing the exclusive features of ONGC's outlets, Mr Subir Raha, Chairman and Managing Director, ONGC, said they would offer the best quality fuel, in this case Euro-III petrol and diesel. Second, they would dispense accurate quantity of fuel. "If you buy 10 litres of petrol, your tank will be filled with 10.0 litres, nothing more, nothing less," he said.

Third, the prices offered would be the lowest in the market. And finally, every OVaL outlet would be company-owned and company-operated to control quality standards.

Asked about the retail rollout strategy, Mr Raha said the plan was to go for volumes and not numbers in terms of outlets. He said ONGC hoped to sell 15,000 kilolitres of diesel and 20,000 kilolitres of petrol in 2005-06.

The outlet, inaugurated on Saturday by the former CMD of ONGC, Col. S.P. Wahi, has an ICICI Bank ATM, a Café Coffee Day restaurant, and utilities serviced by Apollo Tyres, Exide Batteries and Gulf Lubricants.

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