State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) today reported an 85 per cent dip in its net profit in the quarter ended March 31, as it was not fully compensated for selling fuel below cost.
Net profit declined to Rs 757.5 crore in the January-March quarter of the 2009-10 financial from Rs 5,104 crore, Chairman and Managing Director Arun Balakrishnan said here.
The company, which sells petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below imported cost to keep inflation under check, was paid Rs 3,247.1 for selling petrol and diesel below cost in the full financial year. The government gave it Rs 5,563.1 crore for selling LPG and kerosene below cost, which was Rs 1,226 crore short of the loss it actually incurred on selling cooking fuel in FY10.
Sales climbed to Rs 29,429.6 crore against Rs 24,875 crore a year ago.
In the 2009-10 financial year, net profit surged to Rs 1,301.3 crore as opposed to Rs 574.9 crore, he said. Sales, however, declined to Rs 1,08,598.6 crore compared to Rs 1,16,427.8 crore in the 2008-09 financial year.
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HPCL reported sales of petroleum products (including exports) during FY10 at an all time high of 26.3 million tonnes, an increase of 3.5 per cent over the previous year.
The pipeline throughput increased to 11.95 million tonnes compared to 10.58 million tonnes in the previous year, a growth of nearly 13 per cent.
For the year 2009-10, HPCL proposed a dividend of Rs 12 per share, which is higher than that of last year at Rs 5.25 per share. The dividend would result in a total payout of Rs 473 crore, including dividend distribution tax.
He said facilities for Euro III/Euro IV petrol production at refineries in Mumbai and Vizag have been commissioned. HPCL said its 9-million-tonne refinery at Bathinda in Punjab would be completed by March 2011.
Plans Rs 30,000-cr refinery
The company also plans to invest Rs 30,000 crore to set up a 15-16 million tonne-a-year refinery on the west coast. The new refinery, which may be in Raigad district of Maharashtra, is being mulled to make up for space constraint that its Mumbai refinery faces at present. "We should be able to finalise the location in next few weeks," Balakrishnan added.