HPCL Q3 Results: Net profit jumps five-folds to ₹3,023 crore on improved margins, revenue hits ₹1.10 lakh crore | Stock Market News

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) on Thursday reported more than tripling of its December quarter net profit as marketing margins soared.

Consolidated net profit stood at ₹2,543.65 crore in October-December 2024 – the third quarter of April 2024 to March 2025 fiscal year (FY25) – compared with ₹712.84 crore earning in the same period a year back, according to a stock exchange filing of the company.

Profit was also up quarter-on-quarter when compared with ₹142.67 crore earning in July-September 2024. HPCL’s average gross refining margin, a key profitability indicator for refiners, fell to $6.01 per barrel for the reported quarter from $8.49 per barrel a year earlier.

Pre-tax earnings from downstream fuel retailing business jumped to ₹4,566.07 crore in the third quarter from ₹981.02 crore a year back and ₹1,285.96 crore in the preceding quarter.

This is because HPCL and other state-owned fuel retailers – Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) – continued to keep retail selling prices of petrol and diesel on freeze despite a fall in benchmark international oil prices during the reference period.

The three firms had last revised petrol and diesel prices in mid-March 2024 when they reduced rates by ₹2 per litre ahead of the general elections last year. The basket of crude oil that India imports hoovered around USD 85 per barrel at that time. Rates averaged less than USD 74 in the October-December quarter.

The rate freeze has often been justified on grounds that the oil companies need to recover losses they make when prices of crude oil, which is refined to make fuels like petrol and diesel, rise.

Income from operations was almost unchanged at ₹1.18 lakh crore, according to the HPCL filing.

The profit was despite the firm booking an under-recovery of about ₹3,100 crore on sale of domestic cooking gas LPG at government controlled price. This under-recovery is to be made good by the government in the form of subsidy support but so far no provision has been made during the current fiscal year.

For the first nine months of the current fiscal, HPCL had an under-recovery of ₹7,598.93 crore on LPG.

HPCL net profit dropped 75 per cent to ₹3,320.26 crore. In the 2023-24 fiscal, the company as also the other two fuel retailers made record profits from holding fuel prices despite fall in cost.

The company processed 6.47 million tonnes of crude oil in October-December, up from 5.34 million tonnes a year back. It sold 12.32 million tonnes of fuel in the quarter, up from 11.36 million tonnes last year.

The company earned USD 6.01 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel during October-December 2024, down from USD 8.49 a year back.

“The increase in profitability is attributable to robust physical performance and operational efficiencies in both refining and marketing divisions, coupled with improved margins,” a company statement said.

During the period Apr-Dec 2024, HPCL recorded highest ever sales volume of 37.12 MMT (including exports) registering a growth of 7.6% as against 34.49 MMT during Apr-Dec 2023. The company also recorded highest ever quarterly sales volume of 12.87 MMT (including exports) during 3QFY25 registering a growth of 8.2% as against 11.90 MMT