The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has notified the tweaked guidelines for granting authorisation to sell petrol and diesel in the country. According to the Gazette notification published last week, companies with net worth of ₹250 crore and more are eligible to get into the business of auto fuel retailing.

Under the earlier guidelines for marketing transportation fuels, a minimum prior investment of ₹2,000 crore in the domestic oil and gas sector was mandated. This has now been done away with. In addition to conventional fuels, the authorised entities will be required to install facilities for marketing at least one new generation alternative fuel like CNG, LNG, biofuels and electric charging, among others at the retail outlets within three years of commencing operations. It will also be mandatory to set up at least 5 per cent of the total retail outlets in notified remote areas within five years of grant of authorisation.

A penalty for not setting up the promised outlets in remote areas has also been instituted. The penalty also extends to existing PSU oil marketing companies that will be expanding their footprint.

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