Following the hike of ₹3 in the prices of petrol and diesel on May 16, the losses being incurred by oil marketing companies from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), petrol and diesel combined have come down by ₹250 crore a day to ₹750 crore at present, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary at the Union Petroleum Ministry, told reporters on Monday at the bi-weekly inter-ministerial briefing on the situation in West Asia.

“Under-recovery is still there, and losses for the OMCs continue to occur. It is now estimated to be in the range of about ₹750 crore per day,” the senior official stated, elaborating, “That includes LPG, petrol and diesel combined”.

Further, in response to a question from The Hindu, Ms. Sharma said there is no bailout package for OMCs being considered at present. “Bailout package for OMCs is still not on the table,” she stated.

On May 10, Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said that the OMCs were making losses of around ₹1,000 crore per day, from buying crude, gas and LPG at higher prices and shielding consumers by selling the three retail fuels at lower prices.

With the latest hike in the price of petrol and diesel, the losses have been trimmed by ₹250 crore.

India’s consumption of petrol in April this year accelerated about 6.36% on a year-over-year basis to 3.67 million metric tonne (MMT) whilst that of diesel stayed near flat — increasing 0.25% — to 8.28 MMT.

Consumption of LPG during the same period, though, declined about 16.2% to about 2.2 MMT as the government imposed certain supply control measures for commercial LPG, which it has been gradually easing.

As of date, India has restored commercial LPG allocation to 70% of the pre-crisis level.