MUMBAI: State-owned oil major Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) will invest around Rs 600 crore over the next five years to expand its retail outlet network, a top company official said on Wednesday.
"We are planning to have around 250 'Ghar' outlets and each outlet will have a 'dhaba'. The total cost of the entire project is pegged at around Rs 600 crore," BPCL's Senior Manager (Allied Retail Business) Subhankar Sen said here.
Presently, there are around 16 "Ghar" outlets and each of them carries out 40 per cent of fuel activities while the remainder comprises non-fuel activities like shopping and entertainment, he said.
These outlets are mostly built on highways and the land requirement for each such unit is around three to five acres.
"The company is primarily focusing on urban areas and highways and has a very aggressive strategy for its retail expansion in these areas."
The number of people travelling on highways has increased tremendously with the travellers becoming more demanding. They want quality food like they get in the restaurants of their respective cities. They are also concerned about hygiene, Sen observed.
"If it is Chinese, they want proper Chinese dish and do not want to compromise on quality just because the food is available on the roadside."
In future, there would be an exponential growth in this trend and BPCL wants to tap this opportunity, Sen said.
