Refuelled!

Running out of fuel? Skip the gas station and order it from your smartphone to refuel right at your doorstep or anywhere you want. With changing government policies and a push towards digital economy, on-demand oil and fuel delivery apps are gaining momentum – even sparking investor interest from the likes of Ratan Tata – to transform the energy industry.

- Vinayak Aggarwal

Vishvadeep Nagi was interning with various gas stations during college when his family faced a constant crisis of fuel refilling in gensets and machines at farm and factories. A forced shutdown due to fuel shortage amounted to huge losses in the family, leading Nagi to come up with the idea of Deliverfuel. Having obtained a licence in 2019, the company partnered with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and now gets its orders through the oil-marketing company. “As soon we receive an order, we pick up fuel from HPCL-partnered petrol pumps and deliver it to the location,” Nagi says.

Focused on B2B and B2C, Deliverfuel provides last-mile delivery of diesel to reduce fuel adulteration, insecure transport, unpredictable deliveries and theft. Taking note of how fuel in India was being mishandled due to poor transportation facilities for delivery, Nagi points out, “Mixing, pilferage and overpricing were other major issues which a customer with regular fuel requirement had to deal with.”

Delhi-based Sandeep Thakur, Cofounder, PepFuels also, sensed a similar problem area. “Customers with daily diesel demands not only had to be stuck in serpentine queues but also deal with unsafe transportation, theft and unapproved tankers,” he mentions. “To solve these customer-centric challenges, we approached the Oil Ministry and Indian Oil in 2018. We also saw a booming opportunity when we found out that people were using diesel in bulk,” Thakur added.

Currently serving in NCR, Haryana and Manesar, Pepfuels was founded by Thakur along with Tikendra Yadav. The company had signed a contract with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to source diesel.

Figures Don’t Lie