IOC losing ₹238 cr a day on fuel sales
IOC losing ₹238 cr a day on fuel sales
New Delhi: State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is losing ₹ 238 crore per day on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at government controlled rates.
“We are losing ₹ 156 crore per day only on diesel sales," a company official said on Thursday, requesting anonymity.
IOC and its sister PSUs, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, sell diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at rates way lower than their imported cost to help government keep inflation under check.
“Diesel is being sold at a discount of ₹ 15.79 per litre to its imported cost," the official said.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had in his Budget for 2011-12 ignored calls for a reduction in customs and excise duty to contain the impact of a spurt in global crude oil prices, which are ruling at a two-year high.
Besides diesel, IOC, BPCL and HPCL are losing ₹ 24.74 per litre on kerosene and ₹ 297.80 per 14.2-kg LPG cylinder.
“We are losing ₹ 45 crore per day on kerosene and ₹ 37 crore a day on domestic LPG," the official said, adding the company will end the fiscal with a revenue loss of ₹ 43,235 crore.
IOC, BPCL and HPCL together are losing ₹ 432 crore in revenue every day on the three products.
“The industry will end the 2010-11 fiscal with a revenue loss of ₹ 78,061 crore," he said.
In addition, they suffer a loss of about ₹ 4.50 a litre on petrol sales, even though its prices were freed from government control in June 2010.
If prices are not hiked, the government will have to come up with other ways to compensate the oil marketing companies for their losses.
The petroleum ministry wants the finance ministry to compensate the oil companies in cash for at least half of their under-recoveries by making adequate provisions in the Budget.
Upstream oil firms such as Oil and Natural Gas Corp will shoulder one-third of the burden.
For the first nine months, the finance ministry has approved the release of a cash compensation of ₹ 21,000 crore for the three state-run fuel retailers.
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