OMCs order petrol pumps to accept `500 and `1,000 notes

All the three Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), viz Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, HPCL,and BPCL, are assuring the general public that every petrol/CNG station and LPGdistributorship across the country would continue to accept 500 and 1000 currency notes for all fuel and related product purchases. Consumers would be welcome to purchase allproducts from the outlets of the three Public Sector Oil Companies till midnight of November 11, 2016, with Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes.

The three oil companies re-assure their customers regarding continuous and sustained availability of all petroleum products from their outlets, across the country. The customersare also requested not to unnecessarily stock up petroleum products and purchasequantities to fulfil their immediate/routine needs.

We make a fervent appeal to all our esteemed customers to extend full cooperation toensure a smooth transition to the new currency system.

The government’s move to ban Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes to curb black money led to temporary closure of about 5 per cent of total petrol pumps in Tamil Nadu as they ran out of cash following panic buying and were unable to make cash transactions, a senior official said.

Petroleum Dealers Association for Tamil Nadu Vice President Suresh Kumar said that soon after the government announcement, a large number of people thronged the outlets in the state. “There was panic buying and the outlets were dispensing fuel with the currencies they had.”

He said problems arose after customers insisted on filling fuel for lesser amounts like Rs 100 and Rs 200 by giving Rs 500 cash, leading to chaos. He pointed out that the outlets themselves did not have enough cash to make such transactions.

“We advised some fuel outlets to shut down after people insisted on filling fuel with lesser denominations. At least five per cent of outlets are now shut”, he said.

He said the Association has directed fuel outlets to set up registers to collect details of customers, vehicle number and the amount to be filled in denominations in order to check fake currencies.