India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas issued an order on June 11, 2026, restricting how much fuel commercial and industrial buyers can purchase at retail outlets, capping sales at 200 liters per customer or vehicle per day for a period of up to 90 days.
The move targets a specific problem: bulk buyers have been flooding retail pumps instead of using their designated supply points. The reason is a price gap between bulk and retail channels that made it cheaper to fill up at retail stations.
What the order actually does
The “Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel (Temporary Regulation of Supply through Retail Outlets) Order” does three things. It caps daily diesel purchases at retail outlets to 200 liters per customer or vehicle. It prohibits resale of fuel obtained from retail pumps. And it mandates that bulk commercial, industrial, and institutional buyers source their fuel from designated supply points instead of retail stations.
The order is effective immediately and can last up to 90 days, though the government reserves the right to revoke it earlier if conditions stabilize.
