Oil PSUs to lose Rs 178,491 cr despite diesel price hike

On September 13, the government decided to raise diesel price by Rs 3.50 per litre. It also hiked excise duty on the fuel by Rs 1.50 to take the total increase in rates to Rs 5 per litre. After including local sales tax, the hike in Delhi came to Rs 5.63 per litre.

While this was the steepest ever increase, it cut the losses on sale of fuel only by Rs 3.50, industry sources said.

The oil companies were losing Rs 17.05 per litre on the day of the increase. After taking into account marginal appreciation in rupee value, they now are losing Rs 13.86 per litre, sources said.

Besides diesel, oil firms currently lose Rs 32.70 per litre on sale of kerosene through the public distribution system (PDS) and another Rs 347 per 14.2-kg of domestic LPG cylinder.

Sources said the oil firms are losing about Rs 485 crore per day on sale of diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost.

Of this, loss on diesel alone is Rs 300 crore a day.

At the current rate, the three retailers - Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) would end the fiscal with a revenue loss of Rs 178,491 crore.

The three firms reported a combined revenue loss of Rs 47,811 crore on

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