More than a year after they were mothballed, about 900 out of 1,432 petrol pumps under the banner of Mukesh Ambani's RIL are back in business and selling about 2,000 kl (kilolitres) of fuels per day. The reopened outlets are mostly owned and operated by dealers.
According to company's refinery business head P Raghavendran, most of these outlets are in the Western and Southern markets, and wherever possible, are selling fuels at the price being offered by state-run oilmarketers. The prices of governent firms are cheaper than market costs due to subsidy.
RIL had closed outlets in March 2008 since it could not match prices offered by the state-run firms through crude's high run. The government caps motor fuel prices below input costs (international crude price) but gives its oil marketers bonds to make up for losses.
crackcrack
