The release of last tranche of subsidy for 2011-12 has come as a drop in the ocean for government-owned oil marketing companies, which have seen their borrowings rise to Rs 1,40,000 crore. The government has cleared the total compensation of Rs 38,500 crore, promised to oil marketing companies for fourth quarter of FY12, by releasing the last tranche of around Rs 6,000 crore yesterday. While this will marginally bring down the borrowings of the companies—IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum—they have not been given a single rupee to compensate the losses of the current financial year.
These have a combined borrowing of around Rs 1,40,000 crore as against Rs 1,10,000 crore in January this year. Delayed release of cash for the current fiscal as well as the non-revision in prices of three regulated products is adding to the borrowing and interest cost. They are being forced to resort to short-term borrowings at an interest rate of around nine per cent.
An IndianOil official confirmed the receipt of last tranche of FY12 (Q4) cash compensation but expressed concern over the mounting unpaid subsidy of the current fiscal. “We are finding it extremely difficult to operate in current circumstances. The outlook remains grim in the absence of price revision for products like diesel,” he said.
These three companies sell diesel, kerosene and domestic cooking gas at a government-regulated price and often at a loss. This is compensated through a cash subsidy from the government and discounts on crude oil from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India.
In the first quarter this year, these together incurred a revenue loss of Rs 47,811 crore on sale of the three regulated products. Of this, an amount of Rs 15,060 (31.5 per cent) was offset in the form of discounts received from ONGC and OIL. However, Rs 32,750 crore is yet to be compensated in cash by the government. This, along with the high interest burden and foreign exchange loss, caused the three companies to post a combined record net loss of Rs 40,947 crore. Things look no better this quarter as well.
These companies are losing Rs 13.76 on every litre of diesel and Rs 28.54 on every litre of kerosene. These, combined with Rs 231 loss on each domestic LPG cylinder is translating into daily loss of Rs 405 crore. Moreover, they are also incurring a loss of over Rs 3 on every litre of petrol which is a decontrolled product.
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The government proposes to bring down the fiscal deficit to 5.1 per cent of the gross domestic product by reining in subsidy spending. However, the underrecovery of these companies on sale of diesel, kerosene and domestic LPG for this year is expected to swell to about Rs 160,000 crore from Rs 138,500 crore in 2011-12, if no quick decision is made on revising the prices of these products, especially diesel, is taken.
Last price hike in the three regulated products was done in June 2011.