IOC back in red with net profit of Rs 9,611 cr

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) on Friday reported net profit of Rs 9,611 crore in the quarter ended September 30, after the government paid a lumpsum fuel subsidy.

The company had posted a net loss of Rs 7,485 crore in the same period a year ago.
IOC, which reported the largest quarterly net loss by a corporate in the June quarter at Rs 22,451 crore as it did not get any fuel subsidy from the government, received a lumpsum Rs 16,094 crore compensation for the first half a couple of days to enable the company to make profit in Q2.

"The compensation we received is short of Rs 29,729 crore that was needed to bridge the gap between retail price and cost," IOC Chairman R S Butola said.

After accounting for assistance from upstream firms like ONGC, there is still an unmet revenue loss of Rs 13,635.16 crore, he said.

For the first half (April-September) of the current fiscal, it has reported a net loss of Rs 12,839.60 crore.

IOC and other state-owned fuel retailers Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) sell diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at government controlled rates which are way lower than cost. The losses they incur are met through a combination of cash subsidy from the government and assistance from upstream firms like ONGC.

Butola said the companies currently incur Rs 9.84 per litre loss on diesel, Rs 31.30 a litre in kerosene and Rs 478.50 per 14.2-kg LPG cylinder.