By IANS,
Chennai : State-owned oil company Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) is targeting a Rs.20-billion revenue from its non-fuel business.
Leveraging the 8,300 fuel outlets it has nationwide, BPCL today retails fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), food and banking and financial services, apart from its core business of selling petrol, diesel and lubricants.
The company now hopes to increase its non-fuel retail revenue 10 times through six verticals: convenience stores, banking and financial services, food courts, entertainment, bill payment, and travel.
“Presently, these six verticals contribute around Rs.2 billion,” S. Krishnamurthi, BPCL’s executive director (retail), told the media here Wednesday on the sidelines of a press meet. “We intend to grow to Rs.20 billion in three years.”
BPCL has 380 convenience stores, selling around 30 household product categories. It now plans to take the number of outlets to 1,000 by 2010-11, and increase the revenue from this vertical to Rs.13 billion from Rs.1.3 billion now.
The company’s plans of vending liquor would help to nearly double the revenue per square feet to Rs.35.
Krishnamurthi said around 230 petrol bunks house automatic teller machines (ATM). BPCL has also tied up for money changing services.
“We have 120 licences for money changing business,” he said.
The big expansion is to happen in the food vertical.
“Presently, we have 35 food outlets of leading chains and this will be increased to 120. We plan to have 200 ‘dhaba’ format outlets and 60 food courts by 2010-11,” Krishnamurthi said.
Under the entertainment vertical BPCL will shortly open 120 seat theatres in two large petrol bunks in Gujarat.
The theatre housing bunks will be on four-acre plots and will also have food courts.
BPCL is planning to have travel kiosks at all fuel outlets and also expand its bill payment service offerings.
It will also modernize 600 service stations and retail automotive accessories. Additionally, the company has tied up with Hero Honda and Tata Motors to locate their service outlets at select BPCL stations.
Another initiative, `Beyond LPG’, leverages BPCL’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) dealer network to sell products ranging from tea to consumer durables.tt