In an effort to extend the reach of cooking gas in rural areas, state-run oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) are set to appoint 6,000 distributors through an online selection process by December.

This could see an investment of Rs 2,000 crore. So far, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has received about 150,000 applications for this, of which winners will be picked through an online draw. “This is for the first time in history that we are appointing distributors ...