The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Dinsha Patel, has said that state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) — Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, and IBP have planned to set up 3,222 retail outlets during the current year. Informing the Lok Sabha, the Minister said, the OMCs are free to expand their retail outlet network in the country as per their business plans and policy guidelines, subject to conditions that they set up new outlets at locations, which are found to be commercially viable after conducting feasibility study. The Minister, however, said that it was not possible to indicate the timeframe within which the new outlets will be set up as the exercise involves various steps like advertisement, selection of dealers, procurement of suitable site, obtaining various approvals, explosive licence, and clearances from the NHAI.
