Petrol pump self-inspection checklist (MDG 2024)

Short answer

Mark each line YES or NO: the 20 minimum service obligations in the circular dated 20.03.2025, the records in the Marketing Discipline Guidelines 2024 (MDG 2024), the oil companies' rules for their dealers, and its daily checks. Each NO shows its clause and class: critical, major or minor Circular 20.03.2025 MDG 5.1.12 MDG 8.1. The count is for your own use, not an inspection result, and an irregularity must be established first MDG 8.5.2.

The Marketing Discipline Guidelines 2024 (MDG 2024) are the oil companies' rules for their dealers, and bind dealers through the dealership agreement. This page is a plain-language explanation by MDG Services (a brand of VRUOOM Private Limited). It is not the official text and is not connected with or approved by IndianOil, BPCL, HPCL or any government body, so please check the current guidelines and circulars on the oil companies' own websites and with your oil company officer before you act.

Checked against the Marketing Discipline Guidelines 2024 (Ver. 1, effective 24.10.2024) on 15 October 2026. Published by MDG Services on 3 November 2026.

Every line below is in our own words. The 20 service points come from a circular dated 20.03.2025 Circular 20.03.2025.

Run through your outlet

For your own use. This is a helper. It is not the oil company's inspection or its inspection form, and the oil company's own inspection decides. Your answers stay in this browser only.

Tap Yes or No on each line. Tap the same button again to clear it.

At the pumps and on the forecourt

Every product the outlet sells is kept in stock at all times.

Every dispensing unit has a CA, DSM or CSA on it for as long as the outlet is open.

Before each delivery the attendant shows the customer the meter at zero, and afterwards the final reading. The meter goes back to zero for the next delivery, and a notice about this is fixed on every pump unit.

Staff organise the queue and keep vehicles moving on the forecourt.

Everyone who works at the outlet treats customers politely.

Customers can pay digitally, by card, loyalty machine or QR code, and the payment devices are switched on.

Water, air and safety kit

Purified drinking water is on offer to customers.

Customers can get air whenever the outlet is open, through a calibrated gauge, and a person is on hand to give it.

The Q&Q kit is at the outlet, and so is a first aid box whose medicines are all within their expiry dates.

Safety signs are put up, such as No Smoking and Switch Off Engine.

Cleanliness and housekeeping

The dispensing units and their pedestals, the islands and the lube display unit are kept clean.

Nothing blocks the entry and exit roads, and they are kept clean and well lit.

The emblem, the light poles, the monolith, the signs and the fascia are kept free of dirt.

The sales room is tidy and clean.

Clean utility bins and dustbins are placed where customers can reach them easily.

Notices and displays

MDG and the circular say which notices and prices must be on display. The oil company may also give a list of boards and how they should look. Confirm the current list with it.

The outlet's working hours are on display.

A customer with a complaint can see on display whom to contact at the oil company, by name and telephone number.

The retail selling price of every product is on display.

Any legal rule or direction from a competent authority is followed, for example a district order such as No Helmet No Fuel.

The toilet

These are the toilet checks of circular point 7. MDG asks the dealer to run through them every day MDG 5.1.14(b).

The toilet is kept clean through the day.

The fittings work: there is proper light, the flush works where one is fitted, water is available and the door has a working latch.

Every customer and transit traveller can use the toilet at all times, within the safety protocols.

Near the toilet there is a toilet sign, the “Darpan” QR code for feedback and the toilet protocol, and a maintenance sheet is kept and displayed.

Records to keep

MDG names these records and treats not keeping them as an irregularity MDG 5.1.12.

The licences needed to keep the outlet running: the selling licence, the explosives licence and any other.

The oil company's daily sales register and the density register, kept for this and the last financial year.

Purchase invoices and sales bills for this and the last financial year.

Pump maintenance records for this and the last financial year.

Inspection records going back five years.

Any further record the oil company has asked for in writing.

Daily checks

Chapter 1 of MDG asks for most of these every day. The last line is about testing equipment. The zero reading before each delivery is covered above, as point 3 in the first group.

Morning density: the first sample of the day is drawn at a pump nozzle, and its density at 15°C is recorded before the first sale and by 10 AM at the latest.

After each tanker: at least 50 litres are run through the pump first, then a nozzle sample of the mixed stock is taken and its density recorded.

The daily water dip is taken and entered in the stock register, and any water found is reported to the oil company straight away.

The outlet holds a 5 litre standard measure verified by the Weights and Measures Department, used only for testing the pumps.

Each day, before the first sale, the delivery of every nozzle is checked, and the quantity used in the check is written in the stock register.

The metering unit and totaliser of every dispensing unit still carry the seal put on by the W&M inspector, in place and with its wire unbroken.

The W&M certificate for every dispensing unit is valid.

The seals and the certificate are looked at every day.

Pumps, hoses and nozzles get a daily visual check for leaks, and any leak is reported to the oil company straight away.

Calibrated hydrometers and thermometers, a copy of the ASTM density conversion table and whatever other testing kit applies to the outlet are on site, in working condition and ready for an inspector who asks.

No “No” answers yet.

How to use it

Go group by group and tap Yes or No. Tap again to clear a line. Leave blank any line that does not apply.
A No shows the MDG clause, the circular's point number where it has one, and the class.
Your No answers are listed under the checklist, most serious first. Start there.

Where the lists come from

Service obligations: the 20 in detail. The circular sets no penalty of its own Circular 20.03.2025; a shortfall attracts the minor penalties MDG 5.1.18.
Records: records to keep MDG 5.1.12.
Daily checks: Chapter 1 of MDG, for example the morning density MDG 1.4.1(c) and the seals MDG 1.4.2(a).

What the class beside a No means

MDG places every Chapter 5 irregularity in one of three classes MDG 8.1:

Class	Where the minimum action starts
Critical	Termination at the first instance MDG 8.2
Major	Mostly suspension of sales and supplies, 15 days at the first instance; two items have other actions MDG 8.3
Minor	A warning-cum-guidance letter, then money penalties MDG 8.4

See how repeat offences are counted. Where the note beside a NO says Chapter 8 names no class, the oil company decides the action after an enquiry MDG 8.5.4.

What the count does not mean

The count only adds up your own answers. The circular sets no score or pass mark Circular 20.03.2025, and a NO is not an irregularity until the oil company establishes it MDG 8.5.2. The list also leaves out other Chapter 5 irregularities, such as stock variation and overcharging MDG 5.1.11 MDG 5.1.13, so all YES does not mean a clean inspection.

Note: a NO on a seal, on the morning density or on a record can matter far more than ten minor items. Read the class beside each NO, not only the count.

General information, not legal advice. For your own notice, speak to an advocate or your oil company.

Questions dealers ask

01What is the petrol pump inspection checklist under MDG 2024?

MDG 2024 sets out no single checklist. This page joins the circular's 20 service obligations, the records and the daily checks into one YES or NO list Circular 20.03.2025 MDG 5.1.12 MDG 1.4.1(c).

02What are the 20 minimum service obligations at a petrol pump?

Twenty customer-service points in the circular, from keeping every product in stock to following any legal direction of a competent authority. The checklist covers all 20 Circular 20.03.2025 MDG 5.1.18.

03Which records must a petrol pump keep under MDG?

Six kinds: licences; the daily sales and density registers, purchase invoices and sales bills, and pump maintenance records, each for the current and previous financial year; inspection records for the previous five years; and any record the oil company asks for in writing MDG 5.1.12.

04What daily checks does MDG ask a dealer to make?

The density at 15°C before the first sale, the water dip, the W&M seals and certificate, a delivery check of every nozzle, a look for leaks, zero on the meter before each delivery and the toilet checks MDG 1.4.1(c) MDG 1.4.1(b) MDG 1.4.2(a) MDG 1.4.2(d) MDG 1.4.2(e) MDG 1.4.2(f) MDG 5.1.14(b).

05Does the checklist save my answers or replace the inspection?

Your answers stay in this browser and are never sent to us; Clear all answers removes them. It does not replace the inspection: the oil company records its own findings Circular 20.03.2025.

Read the official text: Marketing Discipline Guidelines 2024 (PDF on Bharat Petroleum's website) (also published on iocl.com).

Petrol pump inspection checklist: 20 service obligationsThe 20 customer-service points an inspector marks YES or NO at a petrol pump, in plain words, and what a NO can cost under clause 5.1.18.

Petrol pump records to keep under Marketing Discipline Guidelines 2024 (MDG 2024), and for how longWhich records a petrol pump must keep under MDG 2024, how long each one is kept, what is written each day, and what missing records can cost.

Petrol pump inspection: who checks, what they check, what followsWho can inspect a petrol pump, what a visit can cover, why a dealer cannot refuse, and what comes next: samples, lab results and a show cause notice.

Penalties under the Marketing Discipline Guidelines 2024 (MDG 2024): what each irregularity costsWhat a petrol pump dealer faces under the Marketing Discipline Guidelines 2024 for a critical, major or minor irregularity, and how sales get stopped.

About Dealer Kavach (advertisement)

Dealer Kavach is an app from MDG Services that tracks your outlet's filings, renewals, inspections and daily reports, and reminds you before deadlines, in Hindi and English.

About this page. This page is a plain-language explanation published by MDG Services, a brand of VRUOOM PRIVATE LIMITED (CIN U29194HR2021PTC098450). It is general information, offered free of charge. It is not the official text of any rule.

Not connected with the oil companies or the government. MDG Services is a private company. It is not connected with, approved by, endorsed by, or acting for Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IndianOil), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) or any government body. Our name shares letters with the short form "MDG" that the oil companies use for their Marketing Discipline Guidelines. That does not mean any link with them.

Names and marks. IndianOil, BPCL, HPCL and the names of their documents belong to their owners. We write them only to say whose rules we are explaining.

Check the official source. The Marketing Discipline Guidelines 2024 (Ver. 1, effective 24.10.2024) and related circulars are issued by the oil companies. Rules, amounts and dates can change, and amendments may reach dealers directly without being public. Before you act, read the current documents on the oil companies' own websites (iocl.com, bharatpetroleum.in, hindustanpetroleum.com) and ask your own oil company's officer. If this page and the official document differ, the official document is the one to follow.

What the amounts mean. Amounts in the guidelines are the minimum action. The oil company may take higher action, up to ending the dealership. Do not treat any amount shown here as your full exposure.

Court and Parliament items. Where we mention a court order or a statement in Parliament, we report what was said on the date shown. It is not the rule for your outlet, and the position may have changed since. Your dealership agreement and the oil company's current guidelines decide.

Not legal advice. This is general information, not legal advice. For your own notice, reply or appeal, speak to an advocate or your oil company. Examples use made-up outlets.

Last checked. The "checked" date shows the day we last compared this page with the official documents. It does not promise that nothing has changed since.

Report an error or send a legal notice. If you see a mistake, or need to send us a notice, write to hello@mdgservices.in. We read every message, check it, and correct or remove the page.

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