Reliance Industries plans to shut down 1,400 petrol pumps by April-end as it is unable to match the fuel price offered by state-run retailers, who get compensated by the government for selling fuel below the cost.
Reliance has sent internal mails to its petrol pump operators about the phased closure, industry sources said. The company plans not to replenish petrol and diesel stocks once the existing lot at its retail outlets get exhausted.
The owner of nation's largest refinery suffered huge losses despite selling petrol and diesel at prices higher than the state-run retailers Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum.
On an average, petrol from Reliance outlets costs between Rs 4 and 5, a litre more than the PSU pumps.
Reliance still lost Rs 3.4 a litre on petrol and Rs 5.8 per litre on diesel and had seen its market share fall from 14.3 per cent to less than a per cent in diesel.
Public sector retailers too lose Rs 9.68 on sale of every litre of petrol and Rs 12.21
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