How to start a petrol pump business in India?

Petrol pump business is one of the leading profit-making ventures in India. Currently, the most common petrol retail outlets you see in India are mainly of three companies; Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation. These are dealerships started by entrepreneurs who have signed up on the Petrol Pump Dealer Chayan portal.

There are also other oil companies like Reliance Petroleum Limited, Essar Oil Limited etc., that have refineries that produce petrol from crude oil sourced from around the globe. These are private companies with petrol pump businesses across the country.

If you want to start a petrol pump business, you must first know about the Petrol Pump Dealer Chayan portal.

The Petrol Pump Dealer Chayan portal

The Petrol Pump Dealer Chayan portal (www.petrolpumpdealerchayan.in) is a “retail outlet (petrol pump) dealer selection portal for oil marketing companies.” Signing up for this portal will give you opportunities to start petrol pump business under the Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation. These three Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) are under the control of Government of India.

After registering for this portal, users will be able to see advertisements which feature the locations where applicants can start a petrol pump. Applying against the desired advertisement is the first step to beginning a petrol pump business in India.

How to start a petrol pump business in India?

As mentioned before the first step to start a petrol business in India is to register on the Petrol Pump Dealer Chayan portal. There are two types of locations an entrepreneur can start his petrol business from:

• Regular retail outlets (RO): Locations on highways (national highways/state highways etc.) & urban/semi-urban areas (within municipal limits of a town).
• Rural ROs: Locations in rural areas but not on highways (NH/SH etc.) and outside municipal limits of a town

The government has also classified the type of sites where a dealer can start a petrol station. The type of site will be decided by the OMCs that the applicant has chosen. Types of sites are as follows:

Eligibility criteria

The eligibility criteria to start a petrol station business is different for individual applicants and non-individual applicants which includes private limited companies.

Eligibility criteria for individual applicants

Both individual applicants and non-individual applicants including private limited companies can apply for starting a petrol pump business in India.

Here are the eligibility criteria for individual applicants:

• Must be an Indian citizen and a resident of India
• Applicant’s age should be above 21 years and not more than 60 years
• Applicant must have passed Class 10 examination conducted by a recognised board/school

The portal also invites applicants who have land at the location specified in the advertisement. Based on land requirements the applicants would be classified into three groups:

• Group 1: Applicants having suitable piece of land in the advertised location/area either by way of ownership /long term lease for a period of minimum 19 years 11 months or as advertised by the OMC.
• Group 2: Applicants having a firm offer for a suitable piece of land for purchase or long term lease for a period of minimum 19 years 11 months or as advertised by the OMC.
• Group 3: Applicants who have not offered land in the application.

Applications under Group 3 would be advised to offer land if there are no eligible applicants found, or no applicant gets selected under Group 1 and 2. In case land offered by all the applicants under Group 1 and Group 2 does not meet requirements, then these applicant/s along with applicants under Group 3 would be advised to provide suitable land in the advertised location within a period of 3 months from the date of issuance of intimation letter sent to them through SMS/e-mail.

The land offered by Group 1 and Group 2 applicants must meet the following criteria:

• The land offered is of required dimension and abutting the Road boundary, after leaving the Right of Way (ROW) line of the road.
• The offered land should not be notified for acquisition.
• The landowner is in Possession of the land from the beginning/edge of the ROW line.
• There is no other land including government land between ROW and offered plot.

Eligibility criteria for non-individual applicants/companies

• The entity should be registered in India.
• The date of registration/incorporation of the firm/entity should be at least 3 years prior to the date of application.
• The offered land should either be owned or on long lease in the name of entity for Group 1 and a firm offer in the name of the entity for Group 2.
• Registered societies/Companies should have made a net profit for the previous 3 consecutive financial years duly certified by a Chartered Accountant.

What is the investment required to start a petrol pump business in India?

The investment required for petrol pump business in India will be mentioned in the advertisement under the label ‘Finance to be arranged by the applicant’. There is a non-refundable fee to be paid at the time of the application. For rural ROs it is ₹8000 and for regular ROs it is ₹10000.

Additionally, if you are selected you will have to pay an interest free refundable security deposit. For regular ROs, the applicant is liable to pay ₹5 Lakh and for rural ROs the deposit is ₹2 Lakh.

If you are looking for funding to start a petrol station, then you can try applying for startup business loans by the government that gives loans to new businesses at reasonable interest rates.

How to register on the Petrol Pump Dealer Chayan portal?

Follow the steps below to register on the portal:

• Visit petrolpumpdealerchayan.in
• Click on the Register button available at the Home Page
• Fill all details in the form
• Click on the Generate OTP button. An OTP will be sent to mobile number you have filled on the form
• Enter the OTP in the field and submit the form.

A message will be displayed on the screen, confirming that registration has been completed successfully.

Applying for a petrol pump business

To answer the ‘how to start a petrol pump business’ question you would first need to find the advertisements put out by the OMCs on the portal and then click on it to apply. Follow these steps to find the advertisement and apply for the selected one:

1. Log in to the portal
2. Navigate to the Dashboard
3. The dashboard will have two options; Available Advertisements and Applied Advertisements
4. Click on Available Advertisements. Here the user can find all the advertisements, company and state-wise, for which he/she has not applied.
5. Applicant must click on Available Advertisement link and select the advertisement (Company wise/State wise) for which he/she wants to apply
6. Click on ‘View Details’ to see all the locations under the selected advertisement

To get profits from a petrol pump business in India one should select the right location. Keep checking the advertisements published on the Chayan portal and select the best location after thorough research. Owning a piece of land in the selected location can improve your chances of getting selected for the dealership.

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Author: Priyanka Babu

Priyanka is a seasoned content marketing professional with more than 6 years of experience crafting various forms of business and technology sector content. Her insightful writing tackles critical issues faced by small-scale manufacturing businesses. Priyanka’s clear and concise communication empowers businesses to make informed decisions and thrive in today’s dynamic business environment.