BPCL net rises 107% at Rs 484 crore

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) has posted 107 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 484.3 crore in the third quarter ended December 2003 compared with Rs 233 crore in the same quarter of the previous year.

The corporation's net sales were up 8 per cent at Rs 13,762 crore (Rs 12,647 crore). The corporation has pointed out that "based on the guidelines issued by the Government of India in December 2003 for sharing subsidy under recovery on SKO (PDS) and LPG (domestic) discount of Rs 277.96 crore was passed on by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) towards supply of crude oil during April-December 2003, which has been accounted during the current quarter (Rs 185.09 crore for the period April-September 2003 and Rs 92.87 crore for October-December 2003)."

Sales growth during the quarter was 1.74 per cent and the corporation's exports stood at 0.17 mt. During the nine months ended December 2003, BPCL's net profit dipped to Rs 1658.2 crore compared with Rs 1822.4 crore in the same period ended December 2002.