After successfully implementing the dynamic auto fuel pricing mechanism in five select cities from May 1, the public sector oil marketing companies are now extending the system pan India from June 16.
However, petrol pumps and dealers have reservations, as technical glitches remain.
Ajay Bansal, President of the All India Petrol Dealers Association, said: “This is not a good thing for retailers. The pilot project had faced numerous problems that were raised by the dealers to the oil marketing companies. The prices had to be changed manually in 95 per cent of the retail outlets — both automated and non-automated — every night.”
With nearly 20 per cent of 54,000 retail outlets yet to be automated, Bansal said that he will request the government to not to rush into dynamic pricing. “The government has not held consultations with retailers before announcing this decision,” he added.
The pilot was initiated in Puducherry, Visakhapatnam, Udaipur, Jamshedpur and Chandigarh from May 1. Under the daily revision exercise, the moving average of product price for the preceding 15 days with a lag of two days is taken into consideration for deciding the retail price.