The Petroleum Ministry has sought close to Rs 61,000 crore from the Finance Ministry to offset the losses incurred by public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) for the first two quarters of the current fiscal.
The three OMCs – Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation – incurred total losses of Rs 89,000 crore on selling petroleum products at subsidised rates during the first six months of the fiscal, Petroleum Secretary G. C. Chaturvedi said at the Economic Editors conference here.
Of this amount about Rs 28,000-crore contributions will come from upstream companies – Oil India, ONGC, and GAIL (India). Upstream companies have already borne the subsidy burden of Rs 14,000 crore in the first quarter, and a similar amount is expected in the second quarter, Chaturvedi added.
In the first quarter, under-recovery was Rs 47,000 crore and in the second quarter Rs 42,000 crore, he said.
On whether there could be any further increase in diesel and domestic LPG prices, the Petroleum Minister, S Jaipal Reddy, said he was not that courageous.
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has issued letters to all ministries seeking cash in first supplementary demand for grant which is expected in the forthcoming winter session.