Covid-19: Petrol pumps won't sell you fuel if you are not wearing a mask

If you are not wearing a mask during the ongoing lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus, you may not be able to drive your vehicle anymore. Why? That’s because petrol pumps would refuse to sell you any fuel.

Worried about the safety of their staffers, more than 58,000 fuel retail outlets across India have decided to decline refills for those customers who are not ready to wear masks. The All India Petroleum Dealers Association (AIPDA) has already launched the ‘No mask, No fuel’ campaign in this regard.

“Retail Outlets across the country have decided not to fill those vehicles whose drivers come to petrol pumps without wearing masks. In interest of the petrol pump employees, we urge the general public to wear masks when they visit fuel stations for refill. It will be mandatory,” said Ajay Bansal, president of the AIPDA. Around 84 per cent of the 68,761 fuel outlets across India are registered with the AIPDA.

The fuel retailers’ decision to deny fuel to those not wearing masks comes even as outlets are struggling to meet their expenses. The average monthly nationwide sales per outlet has seen a 91 per cent drop — from 170 kilo litres (kl) before the lockdown to around 15 kl now. Industry bodies, including AIPDA and the Consortium of Indian Petroleum Dealers (CIPD), have already approached state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) — seeking a financial package to meet their expenses.

“We have asked the companies to give up licence fee recovery (LFR) for a few months. Sales have come down to almost 10 per cent of what it was before,” said a CIPD office bearer. According to the industry bodies, fuel trade margins are calculated on per-litre basis — so, the less the sales, the more will be the economic loss. In a letter to OMCs, AIPDA has stated that the dealer margin, Rs 27,500 per month based on a national throughput of 170 kl, has come down to 15 kl, meaning an income-expense ratio of 10:90 — and a huge operating loss thereby.

According to the industry bodies, retail outlets are concerned because even as their sales drop, their fixed expenses — electricity bill, staff salary, bank charges and stamping charges — remain unchanged. Additionally, their unsold stock, lying in tanks for longer period, sees increased evaporation and leads to losses. “We need a suitable financial relief package and business advice to minimise the dealer losses,” Bansal added.

According to reports based on provisional industry data for fuel consumption, petrol sales dropped 64 per cent, and diesel 61 per cent, in the first half of April. The Covid-19 lockdown for ten days in the month of March this year had also affected the sales figures in that month. Petrol consumption during March dropped 16 per cent from 2,578 thousand metric tonnes (TMT) in March 2018-19 to 2,156 TMT in the same month of 2019-20. As for diesel, the drop was 24 per cent — to 5,651 TMT this March from 7,459 TMT a year earlier.