HPCL books Rs 11,526 cr net loss in Q1
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) on Wednesday reported a net loss of Rs 11,526.41 crore for the June quarter, wiping out more than two-thirds of its profit for the previous financial year, as it sold petrol, diesel and LPG below cost despite a sharp rise in input prices following the West Asia crisis.
The loss compared to Rs 4,575.87 crore earned in April-June 2025 and Rs 4,901.50 crore profit in the preceding January-March period, according to a stock exchange filing by the company. HPCL had reported a net profit of Rs 17,258.13 crore in the full 2025-26 fiscal (April 2025 to March 2026).
The company booked heavy losses on selling petrol, diesel and cooking gas LPG during the quarter, wiping away record refining margins. It, alongside other state-owned fuel retailers — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), held petrol and diesel prices steady for two-and-a-half months despite a more than 50 per cent surge in prices of crude oil - the raw material for making petrol and diesel - after the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28 and Tehran retaliated.
And when these companies increased prices by over Rs 7.50 a litre in the second half of May, it wasn’t enough to cover the cost. The cooking gas price increase of Rs 89 per 14.2-kg cylinder too was a fifth of the required hike.
HPCL said it earned USD 23.80 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuels like petrol and diesel in April-June - the first quarter of the 2026-27 financial year - as compared to a gross refining margin of $3.08 a barrel during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
“During the current period, due to the suppressed marketing margins on certain petroleum products, the profitability is impacted,” it said. For LPG, it said the company booked an under-recovery of Rs 3,607.25 crore during Q1. This is on top of unpaid LPG subsidy of Rs 12,798.67 crore as of March 31, 2026. Its revenue from operations rose to Rs 1.44 lakh crore in April-June from Rs 1.19 lakh crore last year.
The company sold 12.24 million tonnes of petroleum products in the quarter, down marginally from 12.26 million tonnes last year. Its refineries turned 6.52 million tonnes of crude oil into fuel, down from 6.66 million tonnes in Q1 2025-26.
