Being a country with the highest number of petrol pumps in the world, India will get another 35,600 retail outlets in next three years as government embarks on a massive expansion plan to boost oil product availability. The country has 51,870 petrol pumps with Indian Oil Corp (IOC) being the market leader with 23,993 outlets, followed by Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) with 12,869 pumps and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) with 12,123 outlets. Private sector has meager presence with Reliance IndustriesBSE -0.78 percent nd Essar Oil owning about 1,400 outlets each and Shell operating three. Besides petrol pumps, OMCs have 13,896 LPG dealers. Listing its achievements since the NDA government took office, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas said OMCs have advertised for setting up of new retail outlets at 35,668 locations and new LPG distributorships at over 7000 locations. In this mega development plan, signage players engaging in branding, fabrications and related tasks will get fresh business opportunity or projects with the mass opening of new oil retail outlets.
