If you are from Karnataka or North Kerala, you probably have seen purple-colored petroleum retail outlets called ‘MRPL HiQ’. MRPL retail outlets have grown in numbers from a few locations in and around Mangalore to having great presence in most big cities on the lower west coast and Karnataka. They are the newest Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) in the ‘petrol pumb’ market after IOCL, BPCL and HPCL, and have over 150 Retail Outlets-and growing.
What is ONGC MRPL ‘HiQ’ Retail Outlets?
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) is a subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOP&NG) India. It is also a category 1 schedule ‘A’ Miniratna, Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE)
‘HiQ’ or ‘High Quality’ Retail Outlet is MRPL’s retail outlet brand, focusing solely on the sale of MS and HSD. However, provisions for CNG as well as electric charging are being provided in partnerships with other companies. Over the past decade, the brand has increased its presence across south India- mostly Kerala and Karnataka, and the numbers are only growing. Most recently they have entered the Tamil Nadu market with regional offices in Coimbatore and Chennai and have floated an advertisement in Andhra Pradesh. The company is also expected to bring out another advertisement in Kerala soon, which will be the fourth such advertisement for the state – after 2019, 2021 and 2023. This advertisement is expected to make MRPL a Pan-Kerala Petroleum Retail Outlet company and will be floated in all 14 districts of the state.
Visually, ONGC MRPL ‘HiQ’ Retail Outlets have a curved canopy structure with purple and orange being the more prominent colors. The outlets provide all service-related features such as drinking water, air facilities and clean toilets. Prices are on-par with other OMC outlets in the locality, and special discounted or inflated prices are usually not offered.
How to start and OMC Petroleum retail outlet in India?
What is CPCL Retail Outlet?
Recently you must have heard that following the lines of MRPL, CPCL also got Government nod for selling petrol and diesel through retail outlets. CPCL or Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited, is a subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) which is under the ownership of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of the Government of India.
While the company has gotten a nod from the government, they have not provided any roadmap on the number of expected outlets and date of future advertisement. Word out in the market is that there will be an Advertisement in 2025, mostly focused on Tamil Nadu and South India. The advertisement is expected to cater to places where sales are high enough for IOCL and CPCL to coexist or where IOCL ROs are non-existent.
At present, there is no confirmation on how the CPCL retail outlets will look like. Personally, I’d love to see a bit of yellow. Facilities should be on-par with those of Indian Oil Retail outlets.
How are MRPL and CPCL retail outlets different from IOCL, BPCL and HPCL?
It needs to be understood that all the above companies, whether MRPL, CPCL, IOCL, BPCL and HPCL are Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) and their underpinning are very similar. The primary aim of all the retail outlets is to sell MS (Petrol) and HSD (Diesel). All other facilities, equipment and safety procedures will be in line with those recommended by the government and PESO. Additionally, selection processes of all the outlets will adhere to strict protocols, transparency, reservation guidelines and social welfare including Corpus Fund Scheme (CFS).
Where the retail outlets of these companies will differ is in their visual identity, place of sourcing materials and the number of products that will be available in the outlets. Companies like IOCL, BPCL and HPCL have decades of experience in retail and are well-sought after. They are Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) with the primary aim of setting up petroleum retail outlets. Refining for them is a means to an end (ie. Selling petrol and diesel at their petrol pumbs). They have a huge number of dealerships across India, and many varieties of products that can be sold including High octane Petrol and lubricants.
In comparison, oil companies like MRPL are focused mainly on selling Petrol and Diesel from their refinery. This means that their retail outlets will usually concentrate in and round the location of the refinery. As the oil comes from their own refinery, these PSUs have higher control of the quality of fuels that are sold, and more uniformity of product can be maintained.
(Information provided through personal understanding of the subject matter. Always clarify with respective Sales Officers of OMCs or go through the brochures and terms and conditions carefully before applying)
