App-based fuel delivery service starts operation in Mumbai

The Fuel Delivery, an app-based door-to-door fuel delivery service provider has announced the formal launch of its Mumbai operations. The start-up aims to cater to sectors like real estate (both under construction and occupied projects), hospitals, corporate office parks, schools and institutions, banks, shopping malls, warehouses, and the agricultural sector.

The company says given the pandemic Covid-19 running through the second wave, it will be a win-win offer for the consumers as they can maintain social distancing norms through contact-less delivery by avoiding long queues at fuel filling stations.

The start-up says it has recently signed an ‘All India Business Agreement’ with state owned oil major, Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL). The service level agreement allows The Fuel Delivery to offer doorstep delivery of diesel anywhere in India. With the company’s service offerings and IOCL’s footprint across the length and breadth of the country.

A customer can order diesel using his/her mobile or web app, following which the company’s bowsers that are compliant to the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) standards will bring it to the set destination.

The company says it is leveraging the potential of IoT (Internet of Things) for developing and deploying the mobile app. All the delivery vehicles are enabled with IoT solution that enables monitoring and tracking in real time while managing logistics better by reducing order fulfilment time.

Rakshit Mathur, founder and CEO, The Fuel Delivery said, “Since we are starting now in a very crucial phase, we have orders worth more than 100 thousand litres per month/per bowser in places like Mumbai and Delhi. We have a set of customers and MoU in place, when we do the consolidated number what we get to see is with these three browsers on road today we are able to deliver approximately 300 thousand litres in a month in Mumbai.”

As far as industry standards are concerned, the door-to-door delivery of fuel service is closed to 60,000-70,000-litres a month per bowser. The start-up says state-owned Indian retailers' petrol and diesel sales in April, 2021 fell by 61% and 57% YoY. This decline can be attributed to low level of industrial and transportation activity due to Covid-19 restrictions, however, it started to gain momentum by late April as activities resumed. Oil marketing companies anticipate the door-to-door fuel market to be worth more than Rs 2,000 crore in the near-term of next 12 to 18 months.