Reliance to start petro cards soon

Reliance Industries is an advanced stage of launching petro cards similar to that introduced by Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), enabling vehicle owners to refuel from over 850 outlets of the company in the country.

The Mukesh Ambani-controlled company has placed an initial order of one million cards with the Pune-based Financial Services. The pre-paid cards are expected to be introduced next month.

"Launching of these cards is a logical extension of the company's petroleum retailing initiatives. These cards are in line with the existing ones available in the market and would function on a pre-paid basis," a source close to the development told Business Standard.

A petro card is a plastic card, with an embedded microprocessor. This enables it to store, send, or receive information and it also has data capacity, which is 80 times more than that of magnetic stripe card.

A petro card offers convenience of usage, eliminating the need of carrying cash, apart from offering bonus points and mileages on usage. A card reader, similar to that for credit and debit cards, is required at the fuel stations for transactions.

BPCL and HPCL had earlier rolled out similar cards in the domestic market, which are, according to those companies' officials, doing exceptionally well.

The cards are expected to be in circulation next month. Apart from private vehicle owners who have pledged their allegiance to the company, RIL expects the card to be lapped up by transportation majors, logistics companies and fleet owners also.

The cards are slated to the launched initially in two variants - one for the high-spending companies such as transport and logistic providers and another, for private vehicle owners. However, the exact denominations and further additions could not be ascertained.

Industry sources said that RIL had already begun distributing the cards to some of its employees, who have being using it on a test basis.

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On the anvil

Petro card will enabling vehicle owners to refuel from over 850 outlets across the country

Card is of plastic, with an embedded microprocessor which enables it to store, send, or receive information and it also has data capacity which is 80 times more than that of magnetic stripe card