Essar Oil expanding retail outlets

Private oil company Essar Oil, which earlier joined hands with Total and Castrol for lubricants’ sale, is expanding available facilities and services at its 1,250 fuel retail outlets across India. It has started negotiating with food chains, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) suppliers and parallel marketers. Essar outlets are classified under three categories—rural, state and national highways, and city. At its 60 outlets in rural areas, the company has started selling pesticides and chemicals from Rallis and various seed varieties from National Seeds Corp., while at tier II cities, it is selling dairy products from Amul. At highway outlets, the company is studying many options to attract consumers. (July 24, 2009)