Rupee helps push up Indian Oil profit 11%
Rupee helps push up Indian Oil profit 11%
![](https://www.livemint.com/lm-img/static/default/newmintdefault-621.jpg)
Utpal Bhaskar
India’s largest oil marketing company, Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), said net profit for the first quarter (Q1) ended 30 June rose 11.09% due to the rupee appreciation and a better performance at its refineries.
Sarthak Behuria, chairman and managing director, IOC, said: “We are quite happy with the performance. The rupee appreciation has helped us positively as we are a large importer of crude oil. We also have large overseas borrowings."
Net profit rose to Rs1,468.41 crore from Rs1,321.82 crore as revenues rose 9.52% to Rs58,205 crore from Rs53,142 crore.
The exchange rate during the year-ago quarter was Rs45.14 to a dollar compared with Rs41.86 to a dollar in the recent quarter. Foreign exchange gains contributed Rs1,134 crore this year versus a foreign exchange loss of Rs498 crore in the year-ago period.
IOC’s refinery margins also rose significantly, to $10.70 (Rs433.35) a barrel from $6.70 dollars per barrel. Refinery margins are revenue earned from processing per barrel of crude.
S.V. Narasimhan, director (finance), said: “Had the rupee not appreciated...we would have made a loss of Rs9 per litre of petrol and Rs10 per litre of diesel, compared with Rs5.88 per litre of petrol and Rs4.80 per litre of diesel, respectively."
IOC is losing Rs90 crore per day by selling petrol, diesel, domestic cooking gas and kerosene below the cost price. Overall, the government-owned oil marketing companies are losing Rs195 crore daily on sales of these products.
The company is also planning to set up a refinery-cum-petrochemicals complex at Ennore in Tamil Nadu as an export-oriented refinery. “Ennore is the future. The discussions are at preliminary stages," Behuria said.
IOC’s shares fell 1.74% to Rs395.15 per share on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Monday, when the benchmark Sensex index gained 0.17%.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
![footLogo](https://www.livemint.com/lm-img/img/static/sep-story.png)