Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Wednesday reported a massive jump in its third quarter for FY 2023-’24 net profit.
The company reported a standalone net profit of ₹8,063.39 crore in October-December 2023-24. This was higher than ₹448.01 crore profit in the same period a year ago but lower than ₹12,967.32 crore earnings in the preceding three months quarter ending in September.
The Indian Oil’s revenue from operations was marginally lower at ₹2.23 trillion in October-December from ₹2.28 trillion a year back when oil prices were lower.
India Oil’s pre-tax earnings from the sale of petroleum products also soared to ₹11,428.88 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal. This was 1,541.95 crore in the same period last year.
According to PTI, Indian Oil’s profit was aided by a boost in marketing margins as a freeze on petrol and diesel price revision despite a fall in input crude oil prices helped recover losses incurred when rates were high in the financial year 2022-23.
IOC uses mostly imported crude oil to make fuels such as petrol, diesel and LPG at its refineries. These are then sold through its vast network of petrol pumps and LPG distributor agencies.
So far this year, in the three quarters of this financial year (April to December), Indian Oil has posted a net profit of ₹34,781.15 crore as against a loss of ₹1,816.87 crore last year.
The nine-month earnings are more than the highest-ever net profit the company posted in 2021-22, according to PTI.
In a statement, IOC said that its profit so far in the FY 2023-’24 is higher “mainly on account of higher marketing margin and lower exchange losses.”
IOC said it earned USD 13.26 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in April-December 2023 against a gross refining margin of USD 21.08 in the corresponding period last year. It did not give quarterly refining margins.
Ahead of the announcement of the results, shares of IOC ended up 3.24% highest at ₹143.45 in the share market.
(Inputs from PTI)
