Indian Oil Corporation starts home delivery of diesel
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Diesel vehicle owners are in for more convenience now as India's largest fuel retailer, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), has commenced home delivery of diesel.
The one-of-its-kind initiative has started in the city of Pune, Maharashtra and will be expanded to other cities as well. From groceries to apparel, everything is being home delivered these days, but fuel is certainly a first and quite novel too. Indian Oil announced the initiative in a tweet, also showcasing the mobile fuel dispensing machine.
The Indian Oil fuel delivery service uses a small tanker that has been retrofitted with a fuel dispenser and has been branded 'Fuel @ Doorstep'. IOC said the home delivery service is the first Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) approved.
Oil Minister Dhramendra Pradhan had said in April 2017 that the government was exploring options to home-deliver petrol and diesel by pre-booking for the benefit of customers. "The initiative will help customers in avoid spending excessive time and log queues at fuel stations," he had said at the time.
For now, Indian Oil will only home deliver diesel to customers. Petrol, however, due to its flammable nature isn't safe to be transported yet. Last August, IOC Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Singh had said that the company was more aggressive on diesel because it is safer to handle in such a mechanism.
Incidentally though, this isn't the first such attempt at home-delivery of fuel. ANB Fuels had started the initiative in Bengaluru last year under the brand name MyPetrolPump. The service home-delivered diesel as well but had to suspend operations within four days of commencing business after PESO issued a circular to oil companies directing it to not supply fuel to the start-up due to safety reasons.
The details on how to order/pre-order diesel and as to whether there will be a cap on the number of litres that can be ordered is yet to be announced. The company also hasn't made it clear yet if it will be charging a premium to offer the service.