Idea-Indian Oil deal to curtail LPG distribution hassles

In one of the largest IVR (interactive voice response) deployment by a telecom operator, Idea Cellular has entered into a two-year agreement with Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) for servicing of over 82 mn LPG customers of Indane.

Idea’s new mechanism ‘Smart Gas Solution’ for booking and billing system will help in fixing LPG distribution loopholes. It would allow end-to-end automation on refill delivery process of IOCL. The process would initiate with booking request, billing, etc and will end with delivery of LPG cylinder with regular updates to consumers, across the country.

Under the solution, every circle will be given an unique Idea number and Consumers can dial in the number from their phones and based on the IVR instructions can book a cylinder. Following this, consumers will receive a booking

confirmation text message along with the reference number.

Alternatively, consumers can also send a text message to the unique Idea number to book refills or can simply SMS ‘IOC’ to the unique number for subsequent refills.

Earlier, LPG bookings were done through appointed distributors, and customers were required to call up distributor or personally visit, to book gas, but the system was full of inefficiencies leading to distribution malpractices.

The new service allows Indane consumers to book LPG 24x7 and offers IVR and SMS based delivery status updates, without having to visit the distributor‘s outlet.

AN Jha, Executive Director (LPG), IOCL, said, “This has been one of the major e-governance projects for IOCL and has not only helped us enhance overall transparency in LPG cylinder booking and real-time reporting,

helping better stocks and logistic management across country, but also faster problem resolution and better experience for the consumers.”

Idea has always believed in offering simple telephony ideas to solve day-to-day problems. We understood the loop-holes in the Gas distribution system and

offered a simple, yet, robust solution to IOCL to help them overcome the distribution challenges and provide convenience and satisfaction to their end consumers. We are happy to undertake one of the largest deployments

of IVR across the world, involving automation of the complete business process of LPG booking till delivery.

This is a major boost to our Enterprise business solution which is focussed on providing unique voice and data based telecom Solutions to help large, medium and small enterprises to transform their businesses.”

Currently, the service is launched in 45 cities and would be progressively rolled out across India in the next three months.