Alinz, Petrocard tie up to make portable petrol pumps in India

Alinz Portable Petrol Pumps said today that it has tied up with Czech firm Petrocard to set up four manufacturing units in India to make machines for such pumps at an investment of Rs 1,600 crore.

The concept of portable petrol pumps is new to India, which has been approved by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Alinz Managing Director Inderjeet Pruthi told reporters here.

The approval was given by the ministry on August 10, he added.

"We would soon be able see an unmanned fuelling station where we, on our own can refuel our vehicle making digital payment," Pruthi said.

"The market of portable pumps will grow here. We have joined hands with Czech firm Petrocard, our technology partner, and have plans and target to set up four facilities to manufacture portable petrol pump machines in India at investment amount of Rs 1,600 crore based on the market, states and oil marketing companies response and cooperation," he said.

A portable petrol pump is an automatic self-service machine dispensing petrol, diesel and kerosene. The payment are cashless, through facilities like e-wallets, he said.

These pumps will be a boon for people living in rural areas, mountains regions and remote locations, he said, adding that they can be set up in just about 400 sq mts as against huge land requirement for normal gas stations.

Besides, he said, it is a good opportunity for those also looking to start a business. To set up a new pump an amount of Rs 90 lakh to Rs 1.20 crore would be required and as per communication with the banks they are ready to finance 80 per cent of the project.

Pruthi further said: "As per communication with state authorities and oil marketing companies, it is expected that the respective state governments along with oil companies will float a tender and who so ever bags the tender will be eligible to set up a portable petrol pump.

"We will install the machine to the eligible person who will get allotment from the respective state governments or Oil Marketing Companies. The machine would be of different sizes. The smallest machine has a capacity of containing 9,000 litres of oil and the largest one is of 30,000 litres capacity," he said.