New Delhi: State-owned oil firms have no plans to recoup losses they made on subsidising petrol and diesel by Re 1 per litre even though rates have now become at par with the cost, top officials said. Scrambling to contain spiralling prices, the government on October 4 last year cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre each and asked PSU oil firms to absorb another Re 1 a litre. This immediately resulted in a Rs 2.50 per litre decline in prices which had touched an all-time high on rising international rates.
“We are not recovering any of the losses,” Indian Oil Corp (IOC) Chairman Sanjiv Singh said. IOC along with Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) took a hit of about Rs 4,500 crore from absorbing Re 1 a litre hike. “When prices were going up, the government requested us to consider absorbing Re 1 per litre and we lowered the price by Re 1 per litre,” he said.
