Doorstep delivery has been one of the biggest disruptors of the new age economy. From getting groceries delivered to your doorstep, hailing a cab, getting meals delivery, all you need to do is swipe on an app and the item would be made available very quickly. This is the basic idea that resulted in Repos Energy, a Pune-based startup that is using tech tools to deliver diesel from pumps to office complexes and businesses directly. The two-year startup co-founded by Chetan and Aditi Walunj combines technology with logistics to offer solutions in the B2B space.
On the journey
When Chetan and Aditi Walunj got married two years ago, they wanted to do something different. “We did not have an idea then. It was at this juncture that we came up with a plan to find digital solutions to help save diesel,” Aditi says.
Chetan ran a petrol pump as part of the family business and the duo began to see a business opportunity in the delivery of diesel to the doorstep. Aditi says, “The traditional procurement process used by most big companies and industrial units is inefficient and results in a range of forced losses such as spillages, dead mileage and pilferage. We wanted to use the latest tech tools such as IoT and mobile apps to solve this issue.”
As they began to work on solutions, the duo realised that there was no government policy in place . Aditi says, “We spoke to the ministry and were invited for a pilot with three other startups in the space. We created an app, and also began creating hardware tools needed for the operations such as fuel tankers with a diesel dispensing unit, and integrated it with the app. The government eventually amended the rules and bought mobile refill vehicles under the purview of the new Petroleum Amendment rules 2019 that came into effect recently. We started a pilot project in Pune, using a modified vehicle to deliver diesel.”
In the last two years, the company has grown to operate more than 65 mobile petrol pumps spread across 32 cities and have a workforce of more than 150 people. They plan to set up more than 3,000 mobile pumps in the next two years.
They say, “The main draw for the company is the mobile petrol pumps that they manufacture and use to deliver diesel. They explain, “It is not very different from standalone petrol pumps. Like a standard pump, it has a tank, a dispensing unit and a teller machine. In the mobile pumps, all the pumping is operated via the app and just requires one person to operate. It is very cost-effective. Since we were setting up the ecosystem, we had to set up everything from scratch. Our customers can order the required amount of diesel on our app and track its delivery in real-time. We have customised bowsers, created in accordance with global standards. We have tied up with all major oil manufacturing companies such as Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum and private players as well. The bowsers have a capacity of upto 10,000 litres.”
Funding
Repos Energy was initially bootstrapped with some help from Chetan’s father, who pumped in the initial investment. Chetan and Aditi decided to seek Ratan Tata’s help as a mentor. “When he met us, he was very receptive to the idea and helped us a lot. He asked us to use Tata vehicles for transporting the fuel,” Aditi said. She added, “We got a lot of support from Tata. Iit was basically run from a small centre, but we convinced them. It has been a great journey. We hope to take this across the country. ”