BPCL limits new outlets to focus on existing ones

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) is going slow on opening retail petroleum outlets, to focus on consolidating its existing retail outlets, adding new products and services like digital film theatres, food courts, rest rooms and shopping opportunities for customers.

BPCL accounted for only 480 of the about 2,900 new retail outlets public sector oil companies opened last year. BPCL intends to limit the number of new outlets it will open this year to about 400.

"The idea is to focus on introducing customer-centric value-added services, with the stress on site quality at urban outlets, and strategic expansion on highways," said S Krishnamurti, executive director (retail), BPCL.

This strategy, which was experimented last year, has paid off, and in the highway sector the throughput per outlet grew from 179 kilolitres a month in 2005-06 to 196 kilolitres a month in 2006-07.

The initiative of The Highway Network Assurance Programme, with one stop truckers shop (OSTS), Ghar, and highway star outlets, helped the highway segment to grow 16.4 per cent last year.

BPCL has automated 320 of its about 7,800 outlets through the Bharat Retail Automation Solutions and Services-Real Time (BRASS-RT) programme, which will be extended to 2,000 outlets this year.

Automation offers customers complete transparency, displaying the exact quantity of fuel dispensed, delivering automated receipt with electronic payment options.

BPCL is also implementing Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for tracking movement of tanker lorries and about 6,000 such lorries are expected to be covered by GPS during the year.

About 300 OSTs are to be set up. Each will have an investment of about Rs 5 crore. Now pilot projects are on at about 14 outlets and another 21 outlets will be added during the year.

The OSTs have a branded design and offer hygienic rest rooms, laundry, kirana, hauda (which is a favourite bathing room for truckers) an amphitheatre and multi-cuisine restaurants and food courts.

"We lay emphasis on launching our own allied retail business (ARBs) rather than entrusting the job to the dealers. Our ARB business has grown by over 50 per cent with a turnover of Rs 158 crore, which is the largest non-fuel revenue generation in India's oil industry," Krishnamurti said.

The company has tied up with the film distribution unit of a global entertainment company for digital content for its single screen cinema halls.

A pilot theatre project is on at some OSTs in Gujarat. This will be extended to Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other states in a phased manner.