New Delhi: Reliance Industries Ltd, India's largest private sector oil firm, has seen a 70 per cent drop in ts diesel sales in July on pricing the auto fuel higher than public sector firms to cut losses.
"The volumes have shifted to PSUs. Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) gained the maximum out of shift in sales," an oil ministry official said.
While public sector firms saw a 11 per cent growth in diesel sales to 3.17 million tonnes private sector sales dipped to 88,600 tonnes, the official said.
Earlier in the day, RIL Vice-President (petroleum business) Ashok Dhar told an Assocham seminar that the company was losing Rs 3.37 per litre on petrol and Rs 5.77 a litre on diesel despite pricing the auto fuels about Rs 2.50 a litre higher than the price charged by PSU firms, who are compensated for the losses through a combination of discounts from upstream companies like ONGC and issue of oil bonds.
He said public sector firms enjoyed huge government support, which the private sector efficiency and competence cannot match.
"Very soon private sector will be out of competition if it is not corrected."
Reliance, which has more than 1,250 petrol pumps on ground and another 900 more awaiting commissioning, lost 12 per cent market share in diesel sales after it priced its product higher than the PSUs.
The company asked the government to make the system of delivering subsidies more transparent and equally applicable to all players -- private and public sector -- and reduction of duties especially sales tax, which makes up for almost the same amount as the under-recovery on fuel sale - Rs 8.29 a litre on diesel and Rs 6.71 a litre on petrol.
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