IOC plans to raise Rs 20k cr via pvt placement bonds

The board of directors of state-run oil refiner Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has approved a plan to raise Rs 20,000 crore in FY21 via private placement of bonds and debentures in one or more tranches.

The fund raising is part of the overall limit of Rs 165,000 crore approved by shareholders at its previous annual general meeting, the company said in a statement.

The funds will be used to meet the expansion projects that the company has undertaken. In September the company said it plans to invest Rs 17,825 crore in increasing the capacity of its Gujarat refinery as well as setting up a petrochemical plant at the unit for upscaling the petro chemical business to protect margins.

The public sector oil refiner also reported net profit for the July-September quarter at Rs 6,026 crore, nearly 13 times the year ago level, thanks to higher inventory gains and exchange gains during current quarter against inventory losses in the year-ago quarter and higher ‘other income’.

The revenue from operations for Q2FY21 fell to Rs 116,713 crore from Rs 134,711 crore in Q1FY20 on lower sales during the quarter. However, the gross refining margin for Q2FY21 increased to $3.46/barrel as against $2.96 per barrel in the same quarter last year.

The other income for Q2FY21 increased three fold on year to Rs 1,158 crore.

Indian Oil chairman SM Vaidya said, “IndianOil’s product sales volumes including exports in the second quarter of FY21 was 18.899 million tonne. The refining throughput was 13.969million tonne and the throughput of the corporation’s countrywide pipelines network was 17.347million tonne during the same period.”