Indian Oil Corporation Ltd has reported a ₹7883.22-crore net profit for the third quarter of the financial year 2017-2018. This is 97.33 per cent higher than the ₹3994.91-crore bottom line reported in the corresponding period of the financial year 2016-2017.

Speaking to reporters after the board meeting, Chairman Sanjiv Singh said: “The higher profit is on account of higher inventory gains and improved performance during the quarter under consideration.”

The board declared an interim dividend of ₹19 per equity share (face value ₹10 per share.) It also recommended issue of bonus shares in the ratio of one equity shares of ₹10 for one equity share of ₹10 each. This issuance is subject to approval by the members. The board has fixed the record date as February 9, an IOCL statement said.

IOCL’s Gross Refinery Margin – a measure of the earnings per barrel of crude oil processed by a refinery – rose to $12.32 a barrel during the quarter under consideration. This is substantially higher than the $7.67 a barrel GRM reported in the corresponding quarter of the last financial year.

But without inventory gains – gains purely because of the rise in crude oil and product prices – the GRM stood at $7.42 a barrel during the third quarter of the fiscal 2017-2018. This is less higher than the $5.10 a barrel GRM reported in the corresponding quarter of the financial year 2016-2017.

Voicing the expectations from the Budget, Singh said, “The major relief for the sector can be if all petroleum products are brought under the Goods and Services Tax. The aim is to keep it under a revenue neutral tax slab. Ultimately, it is for the government to decide because the current tax incidence would not be met under any of the existing slabs, so they will have to work around it.”

IOCL has been looking at a stranded input build up close to ₹700 crore in the past six months since roll out of the GST regime as petroleum products are still out of the tax slab, according to Director (Finance), A K Sharma.

In response to a question of whether the company is expecting any means of recovering the amount, Sharma said: “There is no mechanism to recover this”.