Indian Oil Q3 net profit falls 76 per cent

Indian Oil Corp, India's largest state refiner, reported a 76 per cent fall in net profits for the third quarter in 2009-10, compared to the same period last year. The loss was due to the failure of the government to make up for the the subsidy for domestic retail automobile fuel.

In a regulatory statement, IOC said its net profit for the quarter ending 31December, 2009 was Rs695 crore, as against Rs2958 crore for the same period in 2008.

However, the total income has marginally fallen for the period to Rs71,088 crore in 2009 from Rs 72,351 crore in 2008 - a 1 per cent difference.

The April-December 2009 period saw the gross refining margin increase to $4.84 per barrel, as against $3.37 per barrel in 2008.

The government had sanctioned a budgetary support of Rs7,100 crore for 2009-10 for under-recoveries on kerosene and cooking gas.

So far, the refiner has received Rs4,482 crore as grants for the nine month period from April to December 2009.