NEW DELHI: India’s new liberalised policy for fuel stations now requires that licensees set up a minimum of 100 fuel outlets, 5 per cent of which will have to be mandatorily located in remote regions. “The entity needs to set up at least 100 retail outlets, out of which at least 5 per cent... shall be set up in the notified remote areas within five years of the grant of authorisation,” a Gazette notification said. Licensees under the new policy will also have to “install facilities for marketing at least one new-generation alternate fuel like compressed natural gas, biofuels, liquefied natural gas, electric vehicle charging points etc. at their proposed retail outlets within three years of operationalisation of the said outlet.”
The conditions are part of a large-scale policy revamp for the sector first announced last month. The new guidelines have significantly relaxed the entry barriers in a segment which has so far been dominated by state-owned giants Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum. One of the most impactful changes was opening the gates for non-oil companies to market fuel in the world’s fastest growing market. Prior to this, industry players had to have invested at least `2,000 crore in India’s hydrocarbon sector to be eligible for a fuel retailing licence.
However, the new norms notified now say that a prospective fuel marketing licensee only needs to “have a minimum net worth of at least `250 crore at the time of making the application to the central government”. The applicant will also have to disclose the source of supply, tankage and other infrastructure with capacity, means of transportation of products and number of petrol pumps proposed. The application fee for the licence has been set at `25 lakh.