Chennai: Demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes initially came as a major boost for petrol pump outlets in Chennai, but the outlets located in industrial areas and rural pockets of Tamil Nadu focusing on diesel sales are now recording a slump in retail sales, informed industry sources told DC, confirming that the situation looks bleak with the lorries and trucks getting stranded in western and southern districts.
“It is a fact that the outlets for the first two days (after demonetisation) made money with motorists and lorry owners filling their vehicle tanks, but now the vehicle inflow has come down”, said Mr K. Sainath of Hayagriva Agencies.
“We deal only with petrol in our outlet and after filling their vehicle tanks, car owners and two-wheelers will take at least another week to visit our outlet and footfall has come down”, he said.
Though the petrol consumption picked up this week it will have its downfall. Cars and two-wheeler owners filled their tanks only two days ago and they will return to outlets only next week, Sainath added.
According to Tamil Nadu Petroleum dealer association president K.P. Murali, the daily total consumption of diesel and petrol in Tamil Nadu is around 1.50 lakh litres. The diesel consumption is slightly higher in TN due to the heavy vehicle movements.
For the past two days, trucks and containers are stranded without business transactions and with petrol consumers contributing only to about 50 percent of the business, the situation is not rosy for the week ahead, Murali said.
Another factor is that if there is no change to help our customers, the banks should supply adequate change to petrol pumps so that the demonetised money can be exchanged at the outlets reducing pressure on currency exchange, he urged.
