Fuel price hike could see 50,000 small truckers going out of business

Industry players say vehicle supply is already higher than needed, so when fleet owners prune sizes, single-owners who supply them their trucks will be hit hard

About 50,000 truckers, most of whom are single-truck owners, could be thrown off their businesses due to the recent fuel price hike.

“Already the vehicle supply on the road is higher than the requirement. With the fuel price hike, fleet owners will look to cut down fleet size wherever needed and due to this, small single-truck owners could be at the receiving end,” Ashok Goyal, managing director at BLR Logistiks (I) Ltd told Business Standard.

The company has a fleet of 500 vehicles of all types—small, medium and large with pan-India presence. Meanwhile, pan-India commercial vehicles on the road are