Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MPRL) has said that it will not yet go ahead with plans to convert its entire business into a retail chain after the government decided to deregulate the price of petrol. The company was two years into a three-year plan to set up large-scale fuel service station network before it backed down.
"After the deregulation of petrol, we revised our retail plans but with diesel pricing still regulated, it may take a couple more years to get into the fuel retailing segment aggressively," said a senior executive at the company. MPRL had been planning to set up 122 retail outlets by next year.
MPRL had been granted permission to set up as many as 500 retail outlets by the country's government in 2006, despite only operating three to this day. They operate under the HiQ banner close to the company's headquarters in Mangalore.
The company stressed that its plans have not been scrapped altogether, and that it will wait to see it the government will deregulate the price of diesel before deciding whether or not to proceed with the conversion.
PetrolWorld 08102012