Essar Oil seeks diesel subsidy for private companies on par with PSUs

Essar Oil Ltd. has demanded that the Indian government pay the firm and other private fuel-retailers diesel subsidies on par with the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) or state-owned enterprises, to create a level playing field.
Essar Oil, Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), and Shell India are unable to sell diesel at their 3,000-odd petrol pumps as they cannot match the price offered by PSUs. State-owned Indian Oil Corp., Hindustan Petroleum Corp. and Bharat Petroleum Corp. sell diesel fuel at a Rs15.55 (US$ 0.29) per liter discount to the fuel’s actual cost. The under recovery is made up by the government by way of cash subsidy.
Essar Oil Managing Director and CEO Lalit Kumar Gupta on August 6 wrote to the Oil Secretary, G.C. Chaturvedi, requesting to look at the “feasibility of implementing a subsidy policy for private oil marketing companies as well, thereby ensuring that all the oil companies operating in the retail space are on the same platform.”
Essar Oil has 1,626 petrol pumps while RIL has some 1,250 petrol pumps. (August 27, 2012)