Diesel's pump-price bonanza runs into a cap

Private fuel retailers Jio-BP and Nayara Energy have introduced limits on diesel purchases at their petrol pumps in response to increased demand from industrial and bulk consumers. Jio-BP has capped purchases at 50 litres per customer per day, while Nayara Energy's limits range from 70 to 200 litres. This move comes as industrial and other bulk consumers, such as factories, telecom companies, hotels, malls, data centres, and hospitals, switch to retail outlets to take advantage of cheaper fuel.

Bulk consumers, who typically purchase fuel through dedicated consumer pumps, have seen prices move more closely in line with international rates, creating a price gap of up to Rs 40 per litre between retail diesel and fuel sold to bulk consumers. This has made retail diesel significantly cheaper for large users and encouraged them to buy directly from petrol pumps.

The shift has put pressure on station-level inventories, as individual fuel stations have finite storage capacity and replenishment through supply chains can take several days. As a result, Jio-BP and Nayara Energy have introduced daily purchase limits to preserve fuel availability across their retail networks. Public sector oil companies, which dominate India's retail fuel network, are also likely to consider similar restrictions.