Govt remuneration cushions ONGC's 5% PAT loss

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has reported a 5% decline in its December quarter profits to Rs 6,741 crore. The company posted profits due to a royalty write-back of Rs 3,500 crore from the government.

This re-imbursement is actually the royalty which ONGC had paid on behalf of other private companies in seven pre-NELP production blocks as per the production sharing contracts issued by the government.

Meanwhile, its sales were also down nearly 3% to Rs 18,123 year-on-year due to the company giving a subsidy share of Rs 12,536 crore toward oil marketing companies for selling petroleum products at government regulated prices.

Shares of ONGC reacted  to the earnings announcement and slipped around 1.5% to Rs 282.