Idea, IOC tie up to service 82 million LPG customers

Idea Cellular and IOC have entered into a partnership that will allow over 82 million LPG consumers of Indane to book LPG 24x7 on mobile phones and get delivery status updates via IVR and SMS.

As part of the agreement, that is valid for two years, Idea will extend its 'smart gas solution' service to enable end-to-end automation on refill delivery process of IOC.

"The process starts from initiating booking request, billing, etc and ends with delivery of LPG cylinder with regular updates to consumers, across the country," the country's third largest telecom operator said in a statement.

It will cover over 82 million consumers and over 7,000 distributors delivering more than 1.5 million LPG cylinders everyday.

"The service allows Indane consumers to book LPG 24x7 and offers IVR (interactive voice response) and SMS based delivery status updates, without having to visit the distributor's outlet," Idea said.

The service has been launched in 45 cities and will be rolled out across India in the next three months.

"We understood the loop-holes in the gas distribution system and offered a simple, yet, robust solution to IOC to help them overcome the distribution challenges and provide convenience and satisfaction to their end consumers," Idea Cellular Chief Marketing Officer Sashi Shankar said.

The solution is focused on providing unique voice and data based telecom solutions to help large, medium and small enterprises to transform their businesses, he added.

"This has been one of the major e-governance projects for IOC and has not only helped us enhance overall transparency in LPG cylinder booking and real-time reporting...But also faster problem resolution and better experience for the consumers," Indian Oil Corporation Executive Director (LPG) A N Jha said.