More Stories

Informist, Monday, Apr. 13, 2026

 

By Shakshi Jain

 

NEW DELHI – Over the next couple of days, at least three state governments are expected to direct their district authorities to grant necessary relaxations to telecommunication infrastructure providers to procure diesel in containers, a source privy to the discussions told Informist Monday on condition of anonymity. Many more states are expected to follow suit, the source said.

 

In a bid to prevent hoarding and black marketing amid fears of fuel shortages following the outbreak of hostilities in West Asia, petrol and diesel pump operators in several states were instructed by district authorities to stop sale of diesel in portable containers such as barrels, jerry cans, and drums.

 

As per a document seen by Informist, the Department of Telecommunications under the Ministry of Communications had earlier this month written to heads of 22 licensed service areas to assess the ground situation regarding diesel procurement for telecom operations in their respective jurisdictions and take the matter up with the respective state and Union territory authorities to grant suitable exemptions to telecom infrastructure providers.

 

"... the recent restrictions in several States/UTs, including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh, have led to denial of diesel supply to authorised field personnel, thereby adversely impacting the continuity of telecom services", according to the document.

 

Telecom infrastructure, particularly mobile towers, depends significantly on diesel-operated generator sets to ensure uninterrupted services, especially in rural and remote areas, where grid power supply is unreliable. Since generator sets cannot always be refilled directly from a fuel pump, field teams of companies routinely transport diesel in cans or drums as part of the standard operational practice.

 

"Government contractors and big companies such as Bharti Airtel have been buying diesel in drums after securing a letter of approval from the district collector. The order per day varies depending on their plans, ranging from 1,000 litres on some days to 1,500 litres or 2,000 litres on others," a fuel station operator from Meghalaya said. 

 

In a letter to the Department of Telecommunications last month, the Digital Infrastructure Providers Association had said that because of general restrictions on the sale of diesel in containers, continuity of telecom connectivity was being affected adversely. It had requested an explicit exemption to telecom infrastructure firms from the restrictions.

 

As per the industry body, restrictions on sale of diesel in containers have been reported in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Uttar Pradesh. Late last month, Gujarat exempted telecom companies from these restrictions.   End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.