The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Many dealers selling only branded petrol

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Saturday, May 31, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Many dealers selling only branded petrol

Anil Kumar Sastry

BANGALORE: Even as the Centre is considering increasing fuel prices, many dealers of public sector oil companies in the city have stopped selling regular petrol and are instead offering only branded petrol, which costs Rs. 3 more per litre. If indications from oil companies are true, dealers in the city will sell only branded fuel in the coming days.

The oil companies, however, deny any conspiracy and blame shortage of crude oil at the refineries, which in turn is the result of the shrinking foreign exchange kitty of the public sector oil companies.

“Supply of regular petrol to dealers has come down during the last few days,” said Bhushan Narang, president of the Bangalore Petroleum Dealers’ Association. As dealers had huge stock of branded petrol, they were selling it in lieu of regular petrol, Mr. Narang said and added that the crisis was not orchestrated.

A senior official of a public sector oil company indicated that oil companies’ plan to sell only branded fuel in metros could be a reality soon. “By selling branded fuel, the companies will not get any profit, but will be able to reduce the margin of their loss to some extent,” the official said.

The companies were incurring a loss of Rs. 16.34 for a litre of petrol and Rs. 23 for a litre of diesel being sold at the current prices, the official said. The official noted that the branded fuel was priced only a bit more than the regular fuel and would not burden the consumers. On the other hand, use of branded fuel would eventually benefit the consumers in the form of improved mileage, less maintenance cost and reduced emission levels, the official said. “Earlier, we attempted to persuade consumers in Bangalore to use branded fuel, but were not successful. However, in the coming days, they may have few other options,” the official said.

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