Diesel is one of the two major fuels that are essential to industries such as transport, construction, infrastructure, mining and more in the country. Currently, India’s logistics sector alone accounts for approximately 14.4 percent of our national GDP. However, over 90 percent of the logistics sector belongs to the unorganised sector. These businesses include small, medium and large fleet owners that often consume diesel in bulk. However in terms of a fleet, many operators lose huge amounts of money in terms of diesel management. In order to help businesses optimise diesel consumption and in turn bring down running costs, Pune-based Repos Energy, has come up with diesel ATMs.

In the current norm, businesses consuming diesel in bulk are unable to efficiently manage their fuel requirements. Some of the highlighted problems are fuel theft, diesel availability, spillages and absence of transparency in diesel data. Repos Energy estimates that this diesel mismanagement leads to almost 10 percent loss in diesel bills. To help businesses mitigate this gap, the e-commerce fuel solutions provider has come up with DATUM, a smart diesel storage tank that can be used as a personal diesel ATM. These smart diesel storage tanks can be installed anywhere, used round the clock and help operators cut down on unnecessary trips by maximising savings and limiting down time.

Repos Energy claims that it has already installed 300 DATUM diesel ATMs across states. These smart tanks dispense 4.8 Million litres of diesel every month to 6000+ assets and vehicles. This results in saving 4 Lakh litre of diesel every month in dead mileage, theft, pilferage and saves carbon emissions worth planting 5.7 lakh trees. Some of the major DATUM clients include VRL, Prasanna, Shapoorji Pallonji, Praj Industries, Balaji wafers, Gujarat travels and many ready mix concrete firms. The fuel aggregator expects to service over 3,000 businesses by the end of FY 2023-24. Commenting on the benefit of diesel ATMs, Chetan Walunj, Founder & CEO, Repos Energy said, “We believe that DATUM not only provides convenience in diesel purchase and disposal but can also contribute to the economic development of the country by preventing wastage of oil.”

The average logistics cost in other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries is 11 percent, however, the cost share is at 14 percent. It is the country’s goal to bring down the national logistics cost from 14 percent to 8 percent by 2027-28, as per the latest National logistics Policy. Innovative and optimised solutions such as DATUM smart diesel storage tanks could play a major role in achieving those targets.