India’s petrol pump network crosses 100,000 mark

India’s network of petrol pumps has crossed the 100,000 mark, underscoring a decade-long expansion in fuel retail infrastructure even as the country begins a gradual transition toward cleaner mobility.

As of the end of November, India had 100,266 fuel stations, according to data from the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The total reflects the addition of nearly 50,000 new petrol pumps over the past ten years, driven largely by the expansion strategies of state-owned oil marketing companies.

Public sector firms continue to dominate the landscape, accounting for more than 90 percent of all fuel outlets. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) remains the market leader with 41,664 stations, followed by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) with 24,605 outlets and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) with 24,418 pumps.

Private participation, while still limited in scale, has grown steadily since it began in fiscal year 2004 with just 27 outlets. Today, Nayara Energy Ltd, backed by Russia’s Rosneft, is the largest private fuel retailer with 6,921 stations. It is followed by Reliance Industries Ltd–BP joint venture, which operates 2,114 outlets, while Shell has 346 stations in the country.

The expansion has also pushed deeper into rural India. Rural outlets now account for nearly 29 percent of the total petrol pump network, up from 22 percent a decade ago, reflecting efforts to improve fuel access beyond urban centres.

Globally, India now ranks as the third-largest fuel retail market, behind the United States and China. While there is no official count for the US, a 2024 industry report estimated 196,643 retail gas stations, though some closures may have occurred since. China, meanwhile, was estimated last year to have 115,228 gas stations, with state-owned Sinopec alone operating more than 30,000 outlets, according to the company’s website.

Despite Sinopec’s scale as a global energy giant, its retail footprint remains smaller than that of IOC, whose network of over 41,000 outlets makes it the single-largest fuel retailer in India’s highly fragmented but rapidly expanded market.