Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, HPCL launch model retail outlet scheme

New Delhi: Three oil PSUs - Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited - have announced the launch of Model Retail Outlet Scheme and a Digital Customer Feedback Program called Darpan@petrolpump to enhance service standards and amenities. They across their networks serve over six crore consumers everyday.

The initiative was  recently inaugurated by Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Housing and Urban Affairs, in the august presence of Rameswar Teli, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Labour and Employment, and Tarun Kapoor, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

In order to keep pace with the rapidly changing consumer behavior and a view to offer a heightened customer experience in retail outlets, oil marketing companies (OMCs) aim to benchmark retail outlet standards for ensuring standardized customer facilities through these initiatives.

The scheme involves an intense five-level evaluation process of over 70000 retail outlets in the country on a set of core service and facility parameters as well as standard of customer amenities, e.g., clean and hygienic washrooms, customer centric innovative offerings etc. The retail outlets have been divided into 4 categories based on sales performance, facilities offered and their percentage of digital transactions at the point of sale in keeping with the Digital India imperative.

Top performers will be awarded the 'Shresth' and 'Uttam' awards by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the 'Rajya Sarv Pratham' awards by the respective Oil Companies. The digital customer feedback program, Darpan@petrolpump, a unique, real time feedback program was also launched and customers will be encouraged to give their valuable feedback which will go a long way in enhancing service standards at the retail outlets.