Start-ups queue up to deliver fuel at doorstep

After food and grocery, fuel is also on the way to doorstep delivery. Door-todoor delivery of fuel is the new segment where hundreds of start-ups are expected to come up within a few months.

After state-owned oil marketing companies-Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation--called for expression of interest, hundreds of startups have evinced interest in running mobile petrol pumps. They have to get registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) before starting their operations. The government had come out with a policy supporting mobile delivery of fuel last year.

Within a few months, these startups will be providing doorstep delivery of fuel. "If Swiggy and Zomato can bring food at the doorstep, why can't startups deliver fuel? However, retail customers will have to wait, as the government has allowed mobile delivery of fuel for commercial purposes only for the time being," said Prasan Surana, founder and CEO of Synergy Teletech, which provides doorstep delivery of biodiesel.

According to Chetan Walunj, CEO and cofounder of Repos Energy, almost 60 to 70 per cent of the fuel consumption happens in the commercial sector. Construction equipment, generator, agricultural equipment users who cannot come to the petrol pumps to get refilled will benefit from the mobile petrol pumps, which can carry 4,0006,000 litres of diesel.

"In a few years, almost 30 per cent of the available market may move into doorstep delivery," said Adnan Kidwai, co-founder of Fuel Buddy, a start-up which was part of the pilot project of BPCL. Around 65,000 petrol pumps are estimated to be operating across the country. And about 35,000 pumps also may get added in the next few years, making India one of the largest in fuel networks.

The lower capital and operational expenses compared to traditional petrol pumps make the new venture attractive for fuel entrepreneurs. "Land cost and construction cost makes the capex of traditional pumps ten times higher than that of a mobile pump. Further, a mobile pump can work with just two employees," said Walunj.

"Once we start procuring diesel from the supply locations, the margins will be better than procuring fuel from the petrol pumps," said Kidwai.