FuelBuddy eyes international expansion

livemint.com:

New Delhi: Fuel delivery platform FuelBuddy is looking at expanding its global footprint by foraying into Africa. FuelBuddy is an online platform providing doorstep delivery of fuel. Apart from transporting fuels, the company sells lubricants.

As of now, the company has operations in the United Arab Emirates. "We have started operations in the UAE which we had been committing for some time now. So, operations in the UAE, Dubai have started.

We also exploring expanding our presence into one African nation. So that's underway," said Gautam Malhotra, managing director, FuelBuddy. He said the company's long-term plans also include expanding its network in other West Asian countries.

"See the idea of going to UAE was that we will be looking at the complete Middle East market over a period of time. We will be obviously picking market which makes economic sense to us, one which is that just goes to every country possible. We have studied a broad geography and we understand broadly where all we need to hit.

Obviously once we move ahead, we will have to do deeper studies. But yeah, that's a strategy." On the domestic front, Malhotra said, the company has significantly expanded its operations and plans to add 50-60 cities to its portfolio. "(Operations in) India have expanded significantly.

I think year on year we have grown about 4 times at a larger base. So, this year also we are targeting India expansion at roughly about three times that of last year sales." In the last financial year, the company covered around 150 cities and this year, its plans to take the tally to 200 cities. In FY23, the company sold 6.5 crore ltr of fuel, higher than 1.5-1.7 crore in the previous fiscal.