IOC posts 29% increase in Q3 net profit, at Rs 3,995 cr

Income from operations up 19% to Rs 1,15,645 cr; average GRM at $7.67 a barrel, vs $5.96 a year ago

State-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has posted a 29 per cent increase in net profit for the third quarter of the financial year 2016-17 to Rs 3995 crore, as compared to Rs 3,096 crore during the same time owing largely due to inventory gains.

Meanwhile, the income from operations for the quarter ended on December 31 stood at Rs 1,15,645 crore, compared with Rs 97,069 crore during the third quarter in 2015-16. For the period under review, the average gross refining margin was seen at  $7.67 per barrel, compared with $5.96 per barrel in the same period last year.

The company has declared an interim dividend of Rs 13.50 per share. "As compared to an inventory loss of Rs 4485 crore during the same time last year, we had an inventory gain of Rs 3050 crore," said B Ashok, chairman of IOC.

For the third quarter of 2016-17, Indian Oil's product sales volumes, including exports, was 21.314 million tonnes. The refining throughput was 16.37 MT in Q3 of FY 2016-17 and the throughput for the pipeline network was 20.236 MT during the same period.