India's HPCL posts quarterly profit drop on higher costs, tax expenses

Hindustan Petroleum

22/10/2026 13:17

Oct 22 (Reuters) - India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp HPCL.NS reported a 9% drop in second-quarter profit on Thursday, due to higher tax expenses and a sharp spike in crude prices that squeezed the fuel retailer's margins.
Here are details from the state-run company's earnings report:  
Standalone net profit fell to 34.83 billion rupees ($367.34 million) in the quarter ended September 30, from 38.30 billion rupees last year
Average global Brent crude prices LCOc1 rose nearly 40% year-on-year in the second quarter, due to a prolonged Iran war and the Russia-Ukraine conflict
That dragged down marketing margins of oil marketing companies (OMCs) as the cost of supplying fuel exceeded revenue from selling it
Analysts at Elara Capital expected retail diesel margins for OMCs to be at negative 24 rupees per litre against 5 rupees in the year-ago quarter, while gasoline margins were pegged at negative 2 rupees per litre against 9 rupees last year
HPCL's overall expenses climbed 25.9% to 1.33 trillion rupees, as the cost of raw materials consumed jumped 24.3%
The company's total tax expenses more than doubled to 32.85 billion rupees
However, the firm's average gross refining margin for April-September improved to $27.89 per barrel from $5.95 per barrel a year ago, aided by gains from lower-cost crude inventories
A refiner records an inventory gain when the market price of crude oil rises above the price at which the company purchased its crude inventory
Sale of products rose 26.2% to 1.39 trillion rupees, helped by 39.60 billion rupees of compensation from the Indian government for domestic LPG under-recoveries during April-September 
HPCL is the first among its peers such as BPCL BPCL.NS and Indian Oil IOC.NS to report September-quarter results 



($1 = 94.8175 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
 ((Anuran.Sadhu@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8697274436;))