Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has planned to focus more on rural retail outlets and will open most of the planned 1,600 outlets in 2007-08. Of these, nearly 1,000 will be in rural areas.
To sell various products and services to rural customers, the outlets will have Kisan Seva Kendras (KSKs), or farmer service centres, attached to them. KSKs stock products such as fertilisers, pesticides, seeds and other utility products required by farmers.
Indian Oil commissioned 1,202 new petrol/diesel outlets in 2006-07. Currently, it has 16,607 petrol and diesel stations with 1,422 KSKs. The target is to take up the number of KSKs to 5,000 by 2012.
In the urban market, the company will open more than 100 small-sized convenient stores with an investment of over Rs 200 crore during 2007-08, said IOC officials.
In metros, the company has tied up with private players such as Domino’s Pizza and Future Group to offer shopping and dining for customers. Similar tie-ups are being planned in various urban outlets to make maximum use of real estate value of IOC’s fuel stations.
With popularity of Xtrapremium petrol and Xtramile diesel, IOC has a market share of 57 per cent in branded diesel and 44 per cent in branded petrol in the domestic market.
The company recently completed the merger with IBP and has decided to maintain the brand identity of IBP to create more value for IOC products
