The state-run firm said it was currently incurring a revenue loss of 2.61 billion rupees ($57.8 million) daily on account of fuel sales at below-market prices.
India granted autonomy to state-run refiners last year to fix retail prices for petrol, but the government continues to control prices of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene.
New Delhi has said it wants to loosen control of fuel prices, but has found the going difficult after global crude Clc1 rose nearly 17 percent in the fourth quarter, on top of a 14 percent rise the previous quarter.
For the full year ended March, IOC’s under-recoveries rose to 38.03 billion rupees, from 31.59 billion in the previous year, despite receiving higher compensation from the government in the year.
The higher under-recoveries, combined with higher interest costs and depreciation weighed on the bottomline, Chairman R.S. Butola told reporters.
“We will need to borrow 50 to 60 billion rupees (a month) unless either a view is taken on increasing prices or we get faster disbursement of cash support from government,” he said.
IOC currently holds debt of 678.8 billion rupees, up from 527.3 billion as at March-end.
IOC, India’s biggest refiner with a total capacity of 1.294 million barrels per day (bpd), said its fourth-quarter net profit fell to 39.05 billion rupees from 55.57 billion a year earlier.
Net sales rose 31.4 percent to 868.80 billion rupees.
IOC posted gross refining margins of $7.85 a barrel in the March quarter, more than double $3.38/barrel a year ago, on the back of higher crude oil prices.
State-run fuel retailers — IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp — last raised petrol prices by 8.6 percent in mid-June, but the prices still do not fully reflect international crude prices.
The Indian government had planned a share sale of up to $4.4 billion in IOC, but it has been delayed due to unfavorable market conditions and rising global crude oil prices.
The public issue, earlier planned for the first quarter of 2011, includes a 10 percent stake sale by the Indian government and an equal number of new shares by IOC.
Shares in IOC, valued by the market at $17.1 billion, have declined 6.7 percent so far in 2011, but are down nearly a third from their peak in September 2010 as rising crude prices push up the subsidy share. The main stock index is down 11.1 percent so far in 2011.
