Soon, buy 5kg cooking gas refills at petrol pumps

NEW DELHI: Within a fortnight, you may be able to pick up a cooking gas refill from petrol pumps owned and operated by state-run oil companies in the four metros and big cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad. Oil minister M Veerappa Moily on Tuesday approved the proposal allowing sale of 5-kg cylinders at commercial rate. The cost of the small refill will be Rs 361, oil company executives said. While a subsidized domestic cylinder comes for Rs 400 in Delhi, such refills bought beyond the annual cap of nine cylinders cost Rs 832 each. A regular 19-kg commercial cylinder, known as non-subsidized, non-domestic category, costs Rs 1,375. Initially, the cylinders would be sold from select company-owned, company-operated petrol pumps - called COCO outlets in industry parlance - to test the market. Sale would be gradually expanded to all such pumps depending upon the success of the pilot project. Ever since he took over the ministry's reins in October last year, Moily has been on a drive to improve customer service by state fuel retailers and rationalize their investments in marketing networks. Industry executives see Moily's latest initiative as a precursor to non-subsidized cooking gas refills eventually being sold from multiple outlets - just like water jars or mobile recharge cards - to coincide with the fuel's deregulation and subsidy delivered through the government's DBT (direct benefit transfer) scheme. Starting free sale of 5-kg cylinders would benefit lakhs of students, young professionals and small vendors in the metros and infotech cities who now use refills of 2-3 kg size that are of dubious quality. Moreover, these consumers pay up to Rs 150 or so extra to neighbourhood operators who illegally fill up the small cylinders from subsidized cylinders. Besides, it will save hassle for a family that may need some extra fuel for a special occasion or runs out of gas after working hours. In such a situation, consumers can just pick up a refill off-the-shelf from a petrol pump. The sale of cooking gas cylinders from petrol pumps, once they cover all outlets, would also help generate some additional income for dealers who claim to be struggling on account of falling sales and rising costs. Petrol pumps already have the required safety licences and space so the plan can be rolled out quickly. But oil company executives point to several bumps in the way. "Many interested consumers may not have the 5-kg cylinder so we will have to first provide them such cylinders from dealers (at a cost). Besides, we will also have to frame or change dealership policy for selling cylinders from pumps as the pilot project grows," a senior IndianOil executive said.   TOI