Compensation from Government and upstream public sector oil companies help Indian Oil Corporation register a net profit of Rs 12,670.43 crore for the fourth quarter of 2011-12. This was over three-fold jump in the net profit from the corresponding period last year at Rs 3,905.16 crore.

Recently, the Government extended additional compensation to the public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) for selling regulated petroleum products below market price.

In 2011-12, IOC received Rs 45,486 crore from Government and another Rs 29,961 crore from upstream oil companies – ONGC, Oil India, and GAIL (India) — as subsidy for regulated products.

IOC's total income during this period grew to Rs 128443.96 crore against Rs 98,482.45 crore in the same quarter last year. The refiner has reported average gross refining margin for fourth quarter at $4.25 a barrel against $7.56 a barrel in the same period previous year. The board recommended dividend of Rs 5 a share, the company said in a filing to the BSE.

For the full fiscal 2011-12, IOC reported net profit of Rs 3,955 crore against Rs 7,445 crore in 2010-11. The dip in net profit is due to higher interest outgo of Rs 2,918 crore due to delay in receiving subsidy and provisioning of Rs 8,157 crore towards UP Entry Tax.

> siddhartha.s@thehindu.co.in

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