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Petroleum traders have urged the Central Government to go for a percentage-based return for petrol bunks instead of the current fixed-sum method.
A delegation of the Kerala State Petroleum Traders’ Association, which met the Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas recently, told him the current method was not in tune with the times.
The delegation, led by R Sabarinath, Joint Secretary of Federation of All-India Petroleum Traders, pointed out that currently the dealers’ margin was ₹2 a litre of petrol and ₹1.18 for diesel. This worked out to be less than three per cent. Though prices were increasing frequently, the returns were fixed.
Basheer M M, Secretary of KSPTA, told Business Line that traders wanted the returns to be percentage-based so that fluctuations would be reflected in their profit margin. The delegation has recommended to the minister that returns be fixed at five per cent.
Basheer said the association wanted the Minister to bring all oil companies under a single management. This would drastically reduce operational costs and salaries of public-sector oil companies, and also save crores of rupees for the government. The savings could be passed on to consumers, the association suggested.
The association had also told the Minister to determine a set of guidelines for setting up new petrol bunks and implement them strictly. The association wanted the criteria to be based on either distance or turnover.
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