Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), a Maharatna public sector undertaking (PSU), has announced a substantial increase in its net profit for the first quarter of the financial year 2025-26 (FY26). The company's consolidated net profit saw an 83% year-on-year (YoY) jump, reaching ₹6,808 crore. This notable growth in profit occurred despite a relatively flat revenue.
The company's standalone net profit for Q1 2025-26 stood at ₹5,689 crores, a significant rise compared to the ₹2,643 crores reported in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. This improvement is primarily attributed to enhanced refining and marketing margins, although these gains were partially offset by inventory losses during the quarter, in contrast to the inventory gains experienced in Q1 2024-25.
IndianOil's revenue from operations for the quarter reached ₹2,18,608 crores, marking a 1.2% increase from the ₹2,15,989 crores reported in the same period last year. At the group level, the company's revenue from operations was ₹2,21,849 crores, compared to ₹2,19,864 crores in Q1 2024-25.
In Q1 FY26, IndianOil achieved its highest-ever quarterly sales volumes, totaling 26.328 MMT, surpassing the 25.252 MMT achieved in Q1 FY25. The company's domestic petroleum sales volume increased by 4.2% compared to Q1 2024-25, exceeding the industry average of 3.9%. There was a significant increase in HSD-Institutional sales volume, which rose by 40.3% over Q1 2024-25, compared to an industry increase of 14.8%. Domestic petrochemical sales volume also saw a 10% increase, reaching 0.800 MMT in Q1 2025-26, compared to 0.729 MMT in Q1 2024-25.
IndianOil's refineries achieved a throughput of 18.683 MMT in Q1 2025-26, with a capacity utilization of 107%, compared to 18.168 MMT in Q1 2024-25. The company's cross-country pipelines also performed well, achieving a throughput of 26.256 MMT in Q1 2025-26, a 2% increase from the 25.811 MMT in Q1 2024-25. The gross refining margin (GRM) for Q1 2025-26 was $2.15 per barrel, compared to $6.39 per barrel in Q1 2024-25. However, the normalized GRM for Q1 2025-26 was $6.91 per barrel, a significant increase from the $2.84 per barrel in Q1 2024-25.
The company's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 32.5% YoY during Q1 FY26, reaching ₹13,850.66 crore. The operating margin also improved to 4.61% from 2.91% on a YoY basis.
Despite the positive YoY performance, IndianOil's net profit of ₹5,689 crore was down 21.7% quarter-on-quarter, compared to ₹7,269 crore in the previous quarter (Q4 FY25). This sequential decline was primarily due to lower gross refining margins (GRMs) and adverse inventory valuations. The company's shares also experienced a slight dip of 1.51% to Rs 140.25.
In the first quarter of FY26, IndianOil's revenue reached ₹2,18,607.7 crore, compared to ₹2,17,725.4 crore in the previous quarter. However, this fell short of analysts' estimates, who had projected a net profit of Rs 8,452 crore and revenue of Rs 1.8 lakh crore for the April-June period. The company's operating profit also declined sequentially by 7.1% to Rs 12,607 crore, with a margin of 6.5% for the June quarter, down from 7.0% in the previous quarter.
