Finance ministry orders scrutiny of the books of OMCs

20 Sep 2012 Evaluate

The ailing PSU oil marketing companies (OMCs) - Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) have got another shocker, with the finance ministry ordering a scrutiny of the books of OMCs to see if the under-recoveries stated by them are in order or not. The enquiry has been ordered on concern of a section of the finance ministry officials over the losses reported by the OMCs, linked to the trade parity price and the actual losses.

It’s the third time, that this kind of enquiry is being made about the PSU OMCs, this time some of the finance ministry officials are of the view that using a cost-plus method would be beneficial and may help the government cut down the subsidy burden, however the OMCs are not much convinced with the formula and have said that situation is not going to change drastically.

Meanwhile, despite the recent hike in diesel prices, total under-recoveries for OMCs are expected to remain at record levels for 2012-13. The latest government decisions are expected to reduce the under-recoveries of OMCs by around Rs 15,000 crore for the remaining part of FY13. As on September 1, 2012, OMCs were losing Rs 551 crore per day due to selling diesel, kerosene and LPG at lower prices.

In other development, the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (ATE) has recently issued notices to the three PSU oil marketing companies on petitions filed by Reliance Industries, Essar Oil and Shell after they challenged the dismissal of their plea by sector regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) against alleged cartelisation in petrol and diesel pricing by the PSUs.

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