India’s three state-run fuel retailers earned a combined standalone net profit of ₹30,106 crore in the July-September quarter, nearly 39 per cent of their annual earnings, after a refining margin boost and inventory gains helped more than offset losses on fuel sales and a mounting unpaid LPG subsidy bill.
The combined profit of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) is 68.3 per cent more than their earnings in the same period last year and a swing from a combined loss of about Rs 18,150 crore in the previous April-June quarter, according to company filings.
The July-September quarter alone equals about 39 per cent of the three companies’ combined FY26 (April 2025 to March 2026 financial year) profit of ₹77,281 crore.
The boost in earnings came despite petrol and diesel prices remaining on freeze since May and unchanged domestic LPG rates since March, despite a surge in benchmark prices and input crude oil rates.
The three companies were till last month losing ₹4-5 a litre on petrol and ₹18-20 on diesel, industry sources said.
IOC Director (Finance) Anuj Jain at an investor call on Saturday said under-recoveries or losses on LPG were ₹184 per cylinder in September, which rose to ₹229 in October and are expected to further go up to ₹309 in November and ₹370 per cylinder in December.
While petrol and diesel prices are deregulated and any loss has to be borne by the companies, LPG continues to be a regulated commodity with the government expected to make good on the difference between retail price and actual cost.
With government subsidies not coming in time, the three companies accumulated under-recoveries on fuel totalling ₹67,900 crore at the end of September, according to the filings.
IOC reported ₹32,505.69 crore of under-recovery, BPCL ₹17,334.40 crore and HPCL ₹18,048.82 crore.
The earnings boost was primarily because of high refining margins and inventory gains.
IOC accounted for the bulk of the September-quarter earnings, reporting its highest-ever standalone quarterly net profit of ₹ 21,630 crore, almost three times the ₹7,610 crore recorded a year earlier. The figure alone represented nearly 59 pr cent of the company’s full-year FY26 profit of ₹36,802 crore.
GST collection surged to ₹2.32 lakh crore in October
In contrast, BPCL’s standalone net profit fell 22.5 per cent year-on-year to ₹4,993 crore, while HPCL’s profit declined 9 per cent to ₹3,483 crore. Both companies had reported substantially higher profits in the year-ago quarter.
The divergent performance highlights how refining gains and earnings from other businesses have benefited the state-run companies unevenly, while their fuel retail operations remain exposed to the gap between international product prices and government-influenced domestic pump rates.
IOC attributed its record performance to improved refining margins and strong contributions from its petrochemical and gas businesses. A temporary decline in crude oil prices between mid-June and mid-August also supported earnings by lowering feedstock costs and leading to an inventory gain of about ₹7,000 crore.
The strong refining environment appeared in the results of BPCL and HPCL.
HPCL earned $32.15 for turning every barrel of crude oil into fuels like petrol and diesel in the September quarter, compared to $8.80 a barrel gross refining margin a year earlier. BPCL’s GRM rose to $32.53 per barrel from $10.78.
The earnings come against the backdrop of a difficult first quarter, when the three companies suffered heavy losses as crude prices surged above $100 a barrel amid the West Asia conflict, and retail fuel prices were slow to adjust.
The subsequent improvement in refining economics and lower crude prices during part of the September quarter helped restore profitability, but the recovery was uneven.
While oil prices eased in Q2, they firmed up in October, industry sources said.
In its Q2 earnings statement, IOC flagged potential pressure on earnings in the coming quarters, saying, “However, the profitability in upcoming quarters may be adversely impacted by inventory losses due to a potential fall in crude oil prices with normalisation of the situation in the Middle East”.
Published on November 1, 2026
