India: Reliance Industries regains fuel market share
Eleven years after the company began closing down its sites, RIL has now regained market share in petrol and diesel sales to pre-2006 levels.
While petrol and diesel sales in India grew 9% and 3%, respectively, in 2018-19 from a year ago, Reliance Industries (RIL) raised its figures to 21% and 16%, as presented by the company after its quarterly earnings.
Reliance Industries had a market share peak of 14.3% in diesel and 7.2% in petrol until 2006. Between 2004 and 2006, RIL spent ₹5,000 ($71,290) in opening 1,470 sites. This overall 12% market share in fuel retailing, however, dropped to less than 0.5% in 2014, which forced the company to close down most of its network following spiralling crude oil prices.
In 2019, the company reopened 59 stations. “With 1,372 outlets, we clocked the highest-ever exit volume at 5.6 million kilolitres in March 2019," said RIL in the presentation.
Today RIL’s assets are largely concentrated in the western part of India. For the coming years, the company is planning to jointly set up with BP Plc around 2,000 petrol pumps in India, informs Livemint.com.
Reliance Industries holds a licence to set up 5,000 fuel retail outlets in the country; while BP has it for 3,500.
IndianOil Corp. Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd together dominate over 90% of the fuel retailing market in India.
