Global energy major BP Plc and Reliance Industries Limited have announced the launch of their fuel retail joint venture under the brand name Jio-BP earlier this month. BP bought a 49 percent stake in Reliance Industries Ltd’s fuel retailing business last year for a billion dollars. Reliance currently has 1400 petrol pumps and 31 aviation turbine fuel stations in the country.

RIL holds a 51 percent stake in the new joint venture. The two companies said in a joint statement that under the agreement reached in 2019, BP and RIL officials had been working hard to complete the deal for the past few months even in this challenging situation. It said that the new fuel and mobility joint venture will be named Reliance BP Mobility Limited (RBML) and has started its operation.

This joint venture, which is traded under the Jio-BP brand name, aims to become a major player in India’s fuel and mobility market. RBML has got all the necessary approvals and licenses for marketing transportation fuel. Joint Venture will start selling fuel and castrol lubricants through its existing retail outlets. Apart from this, all these outlets will be redecorated under the Jio-BP brand name.

India’s auto fuel retail market is currently occupied by public sector companies. Most of the 69,392 petrol pumps in the country belong to public companies. The number of petrol pumps of public sector IOC, BPCL and HPCL are 62,072. Out of 256 aviation fuel stations, 224 belong to public companies.

RBML has said that in the next 20 years, India will be the world’s fastest growing fuel market. During this period, the number of passenger cars in the country will increase to almost six times the current level. RBML has set a target to increase the number of its existing 1400 retail outlets to 5,500 in the next five years. The company is going to open 4100 new petrol pumps across the country. The company said that this will increase its workforce to 80,000 from the current 20,000.