State-owned Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) on Monday reported a multi-fold jump in its September quarter net profit on the back of higher refining margins and operational efficiencies.
Its standalone net profit was Rs 7,610 crore in July-September - the second quarter of the 2025-26 fiscal year - compared with Rs 180 crore earnings in the same period of the last year, according to company chairman Arvinder Singh Sahney.
"Net profit was higher mainly because of operational efficiencies and six-quarter high refining margins," he told reporters here.
The firm, which is in the midst of an operational efficiency programme implementation across verticals, saw crude oil processing rise 5 per cent on the same capacity and fuel sales climbing 6 per cent in the quarter.
Another factor aiding the profit was that the company booked marginal inventory gains for the first time in a year. It had a huge inventory loss in July-September 2024, leading to a small net profit growth.
It earned USD 10.6 on every barrel of crude oil it processed and turned into fuels like petrol and diesel in Q2, compared to USD 1.59 per barrel gross refining margin in the same quarter a year back and USD 2.15 GRM in Q1.
He said IOC's refineries processed 17.6 million tonnes of crude oil as compared to 16.73 million tonnes in Q2 last year. The firm sold of 1.3 million tonnes of petroleum products more in the quarter, helping clock 6 per cent rise in sales volume growth to 24.26 million tonnes.
"We had the highest ever first half sales volumes of 50.6 million tonnes in April-September (48.21 million tonnes in the same period last year)," he said.
First half of the fiscal is considered slow for petroleum product sales as monsoon impedes demand and leads for lower volume growth.
"Going by the robust sales volumes, we are confident of crossing the 100 million tonnes record achieved in last fiscal," he said.
The company's domestic petroleum sales volumes rose by 4 per cent in H1, compared to 3.9 per cent in the industry. It clocked a near 36 per cent rise in institutional sales of diesel as compared to industry growth of 13 per cent.
Petrochemical sales rose 5 per cent to 1.54 million tonnes in H1.
IOC posted the highest-ever quarterly gas sales volume of 1.84 million tonnes in Q2.
Sahney said fuel exports were up 37 per cent to 1.41 million tonnes in Q2 as the company tapped overseas markets to place products not absorbed in the domestic market.
Sales volumes rose to Rs 2.04 lakh crore in Q2 from Rs 1.96 lakh crore a year back, he added.
