The much hyped rollout of the 1432 fuel pumps opened by Reliance Industries met with a premature ending owing to the rising crude prices and differentiated Government policies.
All of the pumps owned by Reliance and established with an investment of over Rs.5000 crore were closed in March, 2008 indefinitely.
However with drastic fall in crude prices, the company is thinking of reopening these pumps albeit in a joint venture partnership with state owned retailers like IOC, BPCL and HPCL.
The reason for partnering with a PSU may be two fold. Firstly in case of a jump in crude prices, the subsidy burden can be shared and secondly it cannot supply fuel from its Jamnagar refineries, as they have attained 100% EOU status.
Meanwhile, Reliance has opened some outlets in Gujarat and Maharashtra by buying fuel from MRPL and Essar.
The move will help the stakeholders in the fuel retail business, as they may be able to earn return on investment as well as utilize the resources invested. source