Petroleum products to be available on e-commerce platforms soon, says Dharmendra Pradhan

Petroleum products will soon be available on e-commerce platforms, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday.

"We have already got permissions to do that. When I presented the idea, a lot of people were skeptical, and now it is becoming a reality," he said.

According to reports, the idea was first floated by the minister at a meeting of the consultative committee of MPs in Srinagar on April 21. The ministry wanted home delivery of fuel as a push to digital transactions to reduce the long queues outside fuel outlets.

"The size of the entire petroleum industry will come to the tune of Rs 6.5 lakh crore. We have about 40 million consumers coming to about 1,00,000 retail outlets across the country on a daily basis. We want this consumer base to be linked to information technology and mobile platforms, and want the co-operation of the mobile industry in this," Pradhan said at the India Mobile Congress in Delhi.

The retail selling price of petrol in Delhi showed a 7.9 per cent increase from Rs 65.23 per litre as on June 17 to Rs 70.41 per litre as on September 26.

"The states are asking for central excise duty to be cut, but why don't they cut their own state taxes?" Pradhan asked. The retail selling price of petrol in Delhi showed a 7.9 per cent increase from Rs 65.23 per litre as on June 17 to Rs 70.41 per litre as on September 26. The time period saw a 14 per cent increase in international petrol prices and also a 40 per cent increase in dealer commissions, as per agencies.