Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) on Thursday reported back-to-back quarterly losses for the first time.
The state-owned refiner suffered a Rs 2,172.14 net loss in July-September after losses from a freeze on petrol and diesel prices couldn’t be made up by accounting for a one-time government grant that came after the quarter had ended.
The Q2 loss compares with Rs 1,923.51 crore profit in the same period last year. HPCL posted a record loss of Rs 10,196.94 crore in the April-June quarter.
Just like HPCL, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) — the nation’s largest oil firm — too had posted a second straight quarterly loss as state-owned firms sold petrol, diesel and cooking gas (LPG) at rates below cost to help the government contain inflation.
HPCL said it received Rs 5,617 crore “to compensate under-recoveries incurred on the sale of domestic LPG during the financial year 2021-22 and current period, which has been duly recognised in July-September 2022”.
For the first half of the current fiscal, HPCL now has a cumulative standalone net loss of Rs 12,369.08 crore — double the Rs 6,683.14 crore net profit it had earned in the full 2021-22 (April 2021 to March 2022) fiscal.
