Oil pumps across Manipur in dire strait

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, May 9: Oil pump business has landed in a precarious situation in the whole State.
The oil pump business has been suffering immensely because it requires big investment while the profit is quite small. At the same time, the fuel market has shrunk considerably in the whole State but the ROs have to bear the monthly expenditure which is quite substantial, according to some proprietors/managers of ROs.
There are some ROs whose annual turnover has declined by almost 25 per cent.
Annual turnovers of other ROs have dwindled by Rs 7 to 10 crore and Rs 3 to 5 crore. This is an unmistakable indication that the oil pump business is suffering a lot, said the proprietors/managers.
They said that smaller ROs would be constrained to shut down if necessary measures are not taken up promptly to tide over the situation.
The market volume of fuel for the financial year 2023-24 has declined drastically as compared to the market volume of the previous financial year, said an official source.
In 2022-23, Indian Oil Corporation Limited’s ROs sold 90189.100 Kls of petrol and 128642.500 Kls of diesel.
In comparison, the same ROs sold only 78479.500 Kls of petrol and 88413.500 Kls of diesel in 2023-24.
It implies that the sale of petrol dropped by 11709.600 Kls while sale of diesel declined by 40229.500 Kls.
The drastic drop in the market volume of fuel has also affected the State’s revenue apart from giving a severe blow to the ROs.
The Value Added Tax (VAT) levied by the Government on petrol is 25 per cent while it is 13.5 per cent on diesel.  
The Government collected Rs 228,31,37,066.50 as VAT from petrol and Rs 151,41,22,225 from diesel in 2022-23.
In 2023-24, the Government collected Rs 198,67,08,542.50 as VAT from petrol and Rs 104,06,06,895.
It implies that VAT collected by the Government in 2023-24 on petrol and diesel declined by around Rs 29 crore and Rs 47 crore respectively.