Profit of the state-run refiner fell to Rs 384.5 crore in the three months ended March 2008 from Rs 549.5 crore in the previous corresponding period, the company said in a statement. The Mumbai-based company would have reported a loss of Rs 24.1 crore without a Rs 408.6 crore tax writeback of the earlier year, calculation done by Business Standard showed.
Like its larger rival Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), HPCL also said that it would be forced to curtail product supplies to domestic market if a relief package to plug the company's ballooning oil subsidy bill was not finalised soon. If there is no relief, "We will have to restrict sales," said Chairman and Managing Director Arun Balakrishnan.
The company, which has a 17 per cent market share in retailing, imports about 2 million tonnes of diesel and 0.5 million tonnes of petrol annually. "Imports are finalised up to June. For July, August and beyond, we will decide what to do next week," he said. The daily under-realisation of HPCL from selling the four subsidised products
