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IOC to invest Rs. 25,000 cr. in Tenth Plan

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI OCT. 1. The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) plans to achieve a total refining capacity of 60 million tonnes per annum by the end of the Tenth Plan. This will involve an investment of over Rs. 25,000 crores through its internal resources as well as commercial borrowings.

Outlining its performance during 2001-02, the IOC Chairman, M. S. Ramachandran, today said profits after tax had risen to Rs. 2,885 crores, an increase of 6 per cent with earnings per share having risen by the same level to reach Rs. 37.05.

The company has declared a dividend of 110 per cent and made its highest ever contribution of Rs. 27,358 crores to the Exchequer during 2001-02 out of which Rs. 16,561 crores has gone to the Centre and Rs. 10,797 crores to States in the form of duties and taxes.

In the case of the current fiscal, he said the unaudited results for the first quarter showed the company's net profit had gone up by 12.7 per cent to Rs. 625 crores from Rs. 554 crores in the same period last year.

Replying to questions at a press conference, the IOC chief said talks were on with the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) over increase in crude oil prices for the first quarter. Though the ONGC was anticipating a rise of $2 per barrel, he did not expect much of a change in the first quarter results.

On the latest revision in oil prices, he said the public sector oil companies continued to bear the burden of subsidy on account of LPG and kerosene estimated at Rs. 350 crores per month. The IOC had already availed of Rs. 1,800 crores in the form of short term debt to tide over this problem. As for the overall control of the Petroleum Ministry on pricing, he said intensive consultations were carried out with the Ministry but the oil companies took the ultimate decision. This was because world oil prices had risen steeply after deregulation giving an impression to the general public about the negative aspects of liberalising the oil sector. The Ministry is concerned about this issue, he said but the companies were free to fix prices.

Similarly on another query on the role of the Ministry in policy decisions relating to the company, he said the Government was the owner and had the right to take such decisions just as the Tatas or the Birlas do in their companies. Regarding the entry of Reliance Petroleum into the retail marketing sphere, he said IOC welcomed competition but did not envisage all the 4,000 outlets sanctioned for RPL to be coming up in the near future.

Mr. Ramachandran said the IOC continued to be the largest commercial enterprise with a turnover of Rs. 114,864 crores for 2001-02. It was the lone Indian company to record a turnover of over Rs. 100,000 crores for the second consecutive year.

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