Indian Oil Q4 net drops 51%

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Indian Oil Corporation posted a 51 per cent drop in net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2005 to Rs 893 crore against Rs 1,850 crore in the corresponding period the previous year as government did not allow the company to raise petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene prices following a rise in crude prices.

For the full year 2004-05, IOC reported a 30 per cent dip in its net profit to Rs 4,891 crore from Rs 7,005 crore in 2003-04, chairman and managing director Sarthak Behuria told a news conference here.

IOC, which declared a final dividend of 100 per cent (Rs 10 per share), lost Rs 3,801 crore on selling kerosene at a loss of Rs 5.33 per litre and Rs 2,788 crore on selling LPG at a discount to Rs 85.38 crore to the cost.

The company lost Rs 77 crore on petrol and Rs 1,111 crore on diesel in 2004-05. In the first two months of the current fiscal, it lost Rs 209 crore on petrol and Rs 1,356 crore on diesel.

"April-May 2005 under-recoveries has exceeded full year under-recoveries of 2004-05," Behuria said.

IOC has become the first company in India to cross a turnover of Rs 150,000 crore. The company posted a turnover of Rs 150,677 crore in 2004-05, 15.7 percent higher than Rs 130,203 crore of the previous fiscal.

He said the company was in profits today only because of an all-time high gross refining margin of 6.2 dollars per barrel in 2004-05 against 5.3 dollars per barrel in the previous year.