Alinz plans to set up portable fuel pumps in India

NEW DELHI: Portable petrol pumps can help cut the land and time needed to set up a filling station in the country, and would be especially useful in land-scarce and difficult areas, according to the managing director of Alinz Portable Petrol Pump Pvt Ltd, which is planning to introduce such pumps in the country.
The oil ministry has recently approved the concept of portable pumps and service station, following which Alinz has begun work on setting up manufacturing facilities for such pumps.

“We are in advanced talks with state governments and petroleum companies for setting up of four to seven production units across the country with an investment of Rs 400 crore per plant,” Alinz MD Inderjeet Pruthi said.

Delhi-based Alinz, which has Czech Republic as its technology partner, is targeting to produce 50,000 portable petrol pumps in the country over five to seven years for retailers, railways, and for exporting to neighbouring countries, Pruthi said.

India has about 63,000 filling stations already and oil companies are adding more. Overhead fuel storage tanks make this new class of pumps occupy less space, which Alinz hopes will be seen by fuel retailers as an advantage. Traditional pumps have underground tanks.

The portable pumps are operational in 35 countries around the world, Pruthi said, adding that it takes about two hours to set up or dismantle a unit. The pumps’ capacity varies from 10,000 litres to 35,000 litres. It can dispense diesel, petrol and LPG.