"There is a leaning towards branded fuel. The move is also seen as an attempt to bring down the heavy under-recoveries that the company suffers from selling petroleum products at a subsidized rate," said G.C. Daga, the company's director of marketing.

He said the company would invest more than $200 million on its retail segment, which includes setting up new outlets, upgrading and automating existing ones.

IOC has notched up a market share of more than 48 percent for its branded petrol -- XtraPremium -- with 38 percent of its 17,700 retail outlets offering it. The company said 28.5 percent of its existing customers are changing over to the branded category.

It has posted 65 percent growth in its branded diesel -- XtraMile -- with a market share of 58 percent and 17.3 percent of regular customers opting for it. Branded diesel is being sold at 58 percent of the retail outlets, The Business Line newspaper reported Monday.

Daga said that besides increasing the product reach at retail outlets, the company has taken up a branding and communications strategy that includes improving seller networks and making use of local campaigns.