Petroleum Prices have been raised at the drop of a hat in India during recent times, citing losses incurred by the PSU's IOC, HPCL and BPCL, as the reason for the hike.
I just did a quick review of the P&Lof these three companies for the past 5 years, and what I found do not show the Government or the PSU's in good light.
The Reported Profit after Depreciation, Tax and Adjustments in Rs Crores are given below;
As figures above show, the PSU's are not, and have never been sick, short of cash during the past 5 years, including late 2008-2009 when oil prices were so high, and the government refused to raise the prices because of elections.
Then what is the real reason for the hike in Petrol prices. Ha! That is another story. The tax content on Petrol is approx. 45%, which means government gets nearly Rs 30- 35 as tax on every litre of petrol sold. And this is big money. Money that allows government to splurge on non-plan, unproductive expenditure. The government's financial discipline is so poor, that we are back to the bad old days of pre reforms. Just look at the inflation and the interest rates (which has again been raised by 50 base points today).
The citizen is paying the price for the reckless spending and loot of this Government.
But dont believe the Government next when they dole out the excuse of loss making Oil PSU's as the reason for hike in Petrol Prices
