Government To Relax Norms For Starting New Petroleum Outlets

The government is planning to relax norms for setting up a petrol bunk with an aim to increase competition, Economic Times has reported. The oil ministry has set up a committee to re-look at existing norms for retail licensing rules.

Members of the expert committee are economist Kirit Parikh, former oil secretary G C Chaturvedi and former Indian Oil Corp (IOC) chairman and IIM Ahmedabad Director M A Pathan.

Presently, a company needs to invest Rs 2,000 crore in either hydrocarbon exploration and production, refining, pipelines or liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals to obtain a fuel retailing licence in India.

The expert committee constituted by the ministry will look into the issues related to the implementation of existing guidelines for granting marketing authorisation of fuels (petrol, diesel, aviation turbine fuel). It will also review the extent of private participation in the retail sale of transportation fuels. The committee will identify entry barriers for the expansion of retail outlets for private marketing companies.