NEW DELHI: Fuel retailers are betting on rural roads and highways to expand market share as electric and CNG (compressed natural gas) vehicles make inroads in urban areas amid paucity of land for setting up new petrol pumps.
Available data shows that nearly 88% of the 16,190 new petrol pumps set up by the three state-run retailers — IndianOil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum — in the last three financial years were in rural areas and highways.
Rural areas and highways shared the new petrol pumps almost equally at 7,087 and 7,232, respectively.
