Petroleum dealers have written to the government flagging concerns over the increased pressure they are facing from state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) to restrict the sale of diesel at their outlets as more bulk consumers seek to take advantage of the relatively lower price at which the fuel is sold to retail buyers.
“We have been advised to restrain sale to new customers and cater to only our existing customers,” Consortium of Indian Petroleum Dealers (CIPD) wrote to the oil industry coordinator in a letter, the contents of which were shared with The Hindu. “Fear of short supplies will cause panic,” CIPD President M. Narayana Prasad and General Secretary K. Suresh Kumar wrote, appealing to the companies not to ration fuel supplies.
At the heart of the ‘diktat’ the CIPD has highlighted is a differential price - higher by as much as ₹25 per litre – that is charged to bulk diesel consumers such as transport corporations, private bus fleet operators, industries and operators of generator sets.
