No bailout package for OMCs in sight as under-recoveries mount
From left to right: Ministry of External Affairs, Additional Secretary (Gulf) Aseem R. Mahajan, official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal, Additional Secretary, Department of Fertilisers, Aparna S. Sharma, Director General of PIB Mattu J.P. Singh, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Joint Secretary Sujata Sharma, Director at the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Opesh Kumar Sharma and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) C. Senthil Rajan during the Inter-Ministerial Briefing on recent developments in West Asia at the National Media Centre, in New Delhi. Photo: PIB via PTI
As of date, the government has no proposal to accord a bailout package to oil-marketing companies, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary at the Union Petroleum Ministry, reiterated at the daily inter-ministerial briefing about the situation in West Asia on Monday (May 11, 2026).
“There is no proposal for any support [package] to oil-marketing companies right now,” she stated.
Concerns over under-recoveries, that is, the difference between the cost of manufacturing a retail fuel (as petrol, diesel and LPG) and its sale price, have escalated since the supply glut induced by the West Asia crisis.
Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri wrote on his social media on Sunday (May 10, 2026) that India’s oil-marketing companies are staring at under-recoveries of ₹2 lakh crore, with losses of up to ₹1 lakh crore in the ongoing quarter.
“OMCs are buying crude, gas and LPG at a higher cost, but to protect consumers, they are selling final products at a lower cost, leading to massive mounting losses of up to ₹1,000 crore per day,” he stated, adding, “However, the OMCs have ensured uninterrupted energy imports and supply.”
Separately, addressing a public rally in Hyderabad on Sunday (May 10, 2026), Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called for reducing consumption of petrol and diesel, increasing the use of public transport, car-pooling and wider adoption of electric vehicles. He called for collective action to help weather the supply uncertainties and related pressures induced by the West Asia crisis.
Ms. Sharma assured that the country had adequate stocks of the retail fuels.
Speaking to reporters at the same briefing, C. Senthil Rajan, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), held that Mr. Modi’s address was not seeking to highlight any stock-related issues.
“The idea [of the speech] is for optimum and efficient utilisation of available resources,” he stated, adding, “It is not as if there is a shortage; there are adequate stocks, and arrangements are in place. The Prime Minister made the appeal to efficiently utilise whatever is available.”
In fact, a readout from the fifth meeting of the Informal Group of Ministers (IGoM) during the day informed the country has sixty days of crude oil stocks, sixty days of natural gas and forty-five days of LPG rolling stock.
Published – May 11, 2026 07:17 pm IST
