Understanding the significance of reaching out to maximum possible households using the subsidised cooking gas or lPG cylinders, the three oil marketing companies (OMCs) namely Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp ltd (HPCl) and Bharat Petroleum Corp ltd (BPCl) plan to expand their combined dealership network across the country by adding around 8,000 more dealers during this fiscal, using the new census data of 2011.
Currently there are around 12,000 lPG dealers around the country taking into account all the three OMCs, which according to industry sources is a highly insignificant number considering the fact that the number of households having subsidised cooking gas connections is around 14 crores. Therefore the need has arisen to enhance the dealership network as under the current scenario, sources added, it is increasingly getting difficult to cater to such a humungous number of households.
In order to address this concern, according to informed sources, the three OMCs met the Petroleum Ministry officials on Wednesday to fine tune the lPG dealership expansion plan and would now work out the modalities of implementing it in the coming couple of months after assessing the new census figures.
The OMCs are keen to push the expansion plan as not only the nation's population has witnessed a significant increase since the last census of 2001 having touched the 120 crore mark, the number of households having lPG connections too have increased manifolds, touching the 14 crore mark. In such a scenario, the thinking behind the move is that by expanding their dealership, not only would the OMCs be able to cater to an increased demand for lPG connections, but also improve their sales in the process.
Sources privy to the meeting between the OMCs and the Petroleum Ministry officials, informed The Pioneer that in addition to the existing 12,000 lPG dealers present across the country of all the three OMCs, around 7,000 to 8,000 more would be added though a final figure would come out once final touches are given to the expansion plan.
"We are working on the figure and it would be around the 8,000 dealers mark, though it cannot be described as the final figure," a source present in the meeting said.
The OMCs, sources said, had earlier planned to expand the dealers base, however after there was a leadership change in the Petroleum Ministry on October 29, 2012 when M Veerappa Moily took over the charge from S Jaipal Reddy, the plan was put on hold.
Moily, they added, wanted to understand the modalities of the plan and after discussions between him and the OMCs, the expansion plan has again been revived.