Essar Oil, part of the Ruia Group, has invited alliances aimed at boosting its market share. The company presently has 1,250 fuel outlets located at highways, rural areas and tier II and III cities.
The private sector E&P and marketing major plans to house food chains and will also supply auto LPG at its outlets. Essar Oil already has a tie-up with Rallis for marketing pesticides and chemicals and NSC for seeds at 60 fuel pumps located in rural areas. Its pumps in tier II cities sell dairy products from Amul.
The company is in talks with LPG marketers such as SHV of the Netherlands, ELF of France and Mumbai-based Aegis. It will start selling LPG through 10 outlets in the current fiscal itself. Each facility will cost Rs 55-60 lakh. The company hopes to sell 40 kl of LPG sale every month.
Setting up food courts, shopping facilities and better toilets are also part of the company’s plan. It plans to expand its retail network to 1,500 outlets by the end of the fiscal. . The company hopes that the government will implement market-linked fuel pricing mechanism for a level playing field with the public sector companies