Indian Oil Corporation withdraws proposed ₹22,000 crore rights issue

In July last year, the oil marketing company said it plans to raise ₹22,000 crore capital through a rights issue of equity shares as part of a government's plan to infuse capital into three state-owned fuel retailers to fund their net zero carbon emission projects.

IOCL had also said its equity investment would be ₹1,800 crore till the financial year 2026-27.

A rights issue is a type of corporate action where a company offers its current shareholders the chance to buy more shares at a discounted price.

In August 2024, Indian Oil Corporation said it plans to raise oil refining capacity by a quarter to meet the rising energy needs of India, the world's fastest-growing economy.

The firm, which has nine refineries to convert crude oil into fuels like petrol and diesel, 20,000 kilometers of pipelines to transport oil and fuel, 99 LPG bottling plants, 129 aviation fuel stations, and over 61,000 customer touchpoints like petrol pumps and LPG agencies, is aiming to meet one-eighth of India's energy needs by 2050, he said.

India's oil demand is likely to surge from 5.4 million barrels per day in 2023 to 8.3 million bpd by 2050.

The nation's largest oil firm is targeting to become a $1 trillion company by 2047, combining growth in traditional oil refining and fuel marketing with clean energy avenues like green hydrogen and EV charging.

IOCL posted a record net profit of ₹39,619 crore ($4.7 billion) on a revenue of ₹8.66 lakh crore ($104.6 billion) in 2023-24 (April 2023 to March 2024) fiscal.

The company will continue to invest in fossil fuels and new energy avenues to have a balanced portfolio that will help achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2046, chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said.