India’s state-owned oil marketing companies’ IOC, BPCL, and HPCL short-term borrowings rose 17% to INR 730bn ($9.2bn) in the last fiscal, as per annual reports. The higher borrowings were attributed to increased working capital pressure on account of a price revision of petrol and diesel, and a surge in crude oil prices. The companies didn’t revise prices for 138 days last fiscal due to assembly elections in five Indian states. Probal Sen, analyst, at ICICI Securities said, “Cumulative losses from selling retail fuels below market prices have created material pressure on near-term working capital requirements and this has created the pressure on short-term borrowings, The pressure on near-term borrowings coupled with aggressive capex plans, particularly for HPCL are likely to create stress on leverage for the next 12-18 months.”
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