Can more highway fuel pumps significantly boost road ministry revenues?

Gadkari said last week that a revenue-sharing model for these outlets could be worked out under which the road ministry earns Rs 1.25 on the sale of every litre of petrol and diesel from those outlets

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and oil marketing companies (OMCs) are chalking out details of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s ambitious plan to set up 1,000 petrol pumps on the Delhi-Mumbai expressway.

This was one of the many announcements made by Gadkari when he resumed charge of the road ministry. The proposal of setting up these fuel retail outlets on a commission-sharing basis is at a nascent stage but is enough to garner interest from various stakeholders as it offers business opportunity. The expressway is under construction.

Some industry insiders, however, feel that the proposal is not well thought out as