New Delhi: The Rs 77,821 crore combined OMC profit for FY2025-26 is a 3 to 4 per cent net margin on combined turnover in the order of Rs 20 lakh crore, the working margin any healthy commodity refiner at this scale produces, according to the data.
The Opposition is pointing to the OMCs’ Rs 77,821 crore combined profit in FY 2025-26 a 130 per cent jump over FY 2024-25, and calling it a windfall during a crisis.
The truth is: Roughly half of this profit returns to the Government of India as dividend, funding roads, highways, railways and broader public investment.
The retained portion funds the capex pipeline, where a single refinery expansion programme costs Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 crore.
The figure is largely insulated from the West Asia crisis: OMCs were operating on 50 to 60 days of pre-conflict crude inventory, and the disruption cost lands only in Q1 FY 2026-27.
The Government has already cut petro and diesel excise by Rs 10 per litre on March 27, 2026, and Indian retail prices have risen by only 8 to 9 per cent since the crisis began, against 20 to 67 per cent in neighbouring economies.
Notably, the 130 per cent jump is calculated against an artificially depressed base. The OMC profit in FY 2024-25 was Rs 33,602 crore, which is Rs 47,384 crore lower than FY 2023-24.
The drop was caused almost entirely by Rs 40,434 crore in absorbed under-recoveries on domestic LPG during that year. The Government of India has since compensated the OMCs for that absorption.
FY 2025-26’s Rs 77,821 crore is roughly in line with FY 2023-24’s Rs 80,986 crore. The headline 130 per cent jump reflects recovery from a one-year hold-the-line absorption, not the emergence of a windfall, as per the data.
The right comparison for an absolute profit figure is the turnover that produced it.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) alone has annual turnover close to Rs 10 lakh crore, and its typical profit is in the range of Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 crore, a margin of around 3 per cent.
Across the three OMCs together, with combined turnover in the order of Rs 20 lakh crore, the cross-cycle operating margin sits in the range of 1 to 3 per cent. For a commodity refiner of this scale, this is a working margin, not a windfall, shows the data.
(IANS)
