Petrol pump dealers in Pune and Pimpri have decided to reduce working hours from 14th May 2017. More than 400 fuel pump dealers will only work from 9 am to 5 pm, and will remain shut on Sunday.
This decision comes after the petrol pump dealers were not given a raise in commission by the government. Petrol pump dealers were promised that a raise in commission from 1st Jan 2017. But that never happened. Thus, in order to save on costs, the petrol pump dealers will reduce work hours and man power.
As on date, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum sell nearly all of the petrol and diesel consumed in the country“Petrol pumps currently cannot cope with the high cost of operation. Oil companies were in agreement on this and had promised to increase our commissions before January 1 this year, which did not happen,“ he added. Ali Daruwalla, spokesperson, All India Petrol Dealers Association (AIPDA), New Delhi.
This is not the only update from the petrol pump association this month. In fact, earlier this month – Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL), leading fuel retailers in the country with ownership of 95% of 58,000 fuel stations in India announced that petrol and diesel prices will be revised on a daily basis from 1st May 2017.
A deserted and unused Reliance Petrol Pump. Image – FawnConsultingThis scheme will initially be introduced in 5 cities of Puducherry, Vizag in Andhra Pradesh, Udaipur in Rajasthan, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand and Chandigarh and will be extended to other cities across the country in due course. Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan has stated that this daily change in petrol and diesel prices is in sync with international rates as is seen in advanced markets.
As on date, state fuel retailers sets rates on the 1st and 16th of each month after taking average international prices of fuel and currency exchange rates. From 1st May 2017, instead of taking fortnightly averages, daily rates of oil in international markets along with rupee and US dollar fluctuations will be taken into account.
These daily changes in rates will be not only remove big increased in rates but customers will also be more aligned to market dynamics. The daily changes will not be more than a few paise per liter and even as currently petrol and diesel rates differ between petrol pumps in a particular city or town, from May 1, 2017 these prices will all be the same.