The Chief Minister's Office of Uttarakhand announced on Thursday, 9 July 2026 that the state's first Hilans retail outlet has been established inside a petrol pump premises in Haridwar, marking a new initiative under Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to make the women of Uttarakhand self-reliant. The official post stated: 'मातृशक्ति को आत्मनिर्भर बनाने की दिशा में एक नई पहल' ('a new initiative in the direction of making women self-reliant'), with the Haridwar outlet described as the first of its kind in the state. The outlet is located within a petrol pump complex, a deliberate choice to leverage high-footfall infrastructure for maximum visibility.

Context

Hilans is a government-supported retail brand under which products made by women's self-help groups (SHGs) and local artisans of Uttarakhand are sold. The brand functions as a market-linkage mechanism, connecting rural women producers directly to consumers without the burden of setting up independent shops. The Haridwar outlet is the first Hilans retail outlet to be housed within a petrol pump premises in the state. Haridwar, one of India's foremost pilgrimage destinations, draws millions of visitors annually, making it a strategically significant location for a first-of-its-kind retail experiment. Placing an SHG-products outlet at a petrol pump in such a district ensures exposure to both local residents and a steady stream of pilgrims and tourists.

Policy Backdrop

The Hilans initiative is rooted in the broader national framework of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), under which Uttarakhand scaled up SHG formation and market-linkage efforts significantly after 2017. The Uttarakhand State Rural Livelihoods Mission (USLRM) is the nodal state agency responsible for organising and supporting these SHGs across the state's districts. Uttarakhand's geography — marked by dispersed hill settlements and high male out-migration — leaves women as the primary economic agents in many households, yet limits their access to urban markets. Branded retail channels such as Hilans are designed to address precisely this gap, giving SHG products a formal, visible shelf presence in high-traffic locations. The Dhami government has consistently positioned women's economic self-reliance as a central plank of its welfare agenda since Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami assumed office in March 2021, rolling out multiple schemes targeting rural and semi-urban women.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the Hilans outlet model are women self-help group members and rural women entrepreneurs across Uttarakhand who gain a reliable, formal retail channel for their products. For consumers — including the large pilgrim population passing through Haridwar — the outlet provides access to locally made goods. The petrol-pump-premises model is notable because it requires no dedicated real estate investment, reducing the cost of scaling the network. Similar approaches have been adopted by other hill states seeking to use existing high-footfall infrastructure — fuel stations, bus depots, railway premises — as low-cost retail anchors for SHG products.

What's Next

The establishment of the first Hilans outlet in Haridwar is expected to serve as a template for replication across other districts of Uttarakhand. Policy observers will watch whether the state's 2026-27 budget includes dedicated allocations to expand the Hilans network to additional petrol pump locations and other high-traffic venues. The pace of rollout and the range of product categories stocked will determine how meaningfully the initiative translates into sustained income gains for the women's SHGs it is designed to support.