Petrol pump dealers won't buy fuel today: Will it impact common man?

New Delhi, May 31: Petrol pump dealers across 24 states in the country will not buy petrol and diesel on Tuesday as the oil marketing companies have not revised the dealers' commissions for the last five years. However, it will not impact the consumers as petrol bunks will have stock which will last for a few days.

"Though there was an agreement between oil companies and dealer associations that the dealer margins will be revised every six months, it has not been revised since 2017. The prices of fuel have almost doubled since 2017, hence the working capital in business has doubled leading to additional loans and bank interests thereupon," The Times of India quoted Petrol Pump Dealers Association as saying in a statement.

The association states that the operating costs have increased in the last five years and its request to revise the commission has been ignored by the OMCs. "Evaporation losses have increased proportionately. Also, the overhead expenses like bank charges, electricity bills, salaries etc. have increased manifold during the last five years. Our constant demand to revise dealer commission has been overlooked by the OMCs (Oil Marketing Companies). By doing so, OMCs are making their own network financially unviable," the statement added.

The associations have welcomed the Centre's decision to give relief to consumers by cutting excise duty, but the sudden rate cuts have resulted in losses to the dealers. "However, these sudden cuts have led to huge financial loss to the dealers. The central government in the past six months has announced two major cuts in excise duty (on Nov 4, 2021 and on May 21, 2022), and the entire burden of Rs 13 per litre on petrol and Rs 16 per litre on diesel was passed on to the petrol pump dealers causing huge irrecoverable losses," it said.

The dealers in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Sikkim. North Bengal Dealers Association and dealers in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have joined the protest where they will not buy fuel on Tuesday.