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Informist, Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2026

 

By Sunil Raghu

 

AHMEDABAD – Strong earnings of the three state-owned oil marketing companies and select power utilities helped India's leading energy companies report a double-digit growth in net profit in the March quarter, contrary to analysts' expectations, despite a softer-than-expected growth in revenue. 

 

The 22 major energy companies in the sample from the Nifty 200 index reported an aggregate net profit of INR 805.25 billion for Jan-Mar, up 11.41% on year, while revenue rose 7% to INR 9.8 trillion. The analysts had projected aggregate net profit to fall 4.4% on year to INR 708.24 billion, while revenue was expected to rise 13.3% on year.

 

The March quarter was characterised by highly volatile crude oil prices, healthy refining margins for oil marketing companies, rising electricity transmission and renewable capacity additions, and resilient power demand.

 

Among the companies reviewed, 16 reported higher revenue while 13 saw strong growth in net profit. Adani Green Energy Ltd. saw its net profit rise at the highest pace, a nearly 73% year-on-year growth, followed by Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. at 56.61% on year, and Siemens Energy India Ltd. at 52.21%. On the net sales front, NTPC Green Energy Ltd. led with a 46.66% increase, followed by Suzlon Energy Ltd. with 44.94% on-year growth, and JSW Energy Ltd. at 41.05%.

 

STATE-OWNED OIL COMPANIES

 

The biggest surprise came from the country's three state-owned oil marketing companies--Indian Oil Corp. Ltd., Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd.--which reported net profits well above the Street expectations.

 

Indian Oil reported net profit growth of 56.6% on year to INR 113.78 billion, way above analysts' expectations of INR 72.48 billion, while revenue rose 6.6% to INR 2.08 trillion but below the Street's expectation of INR 2.44 trillion. Lower material, employee and finance costs also supported margins, helping the companies' net profit rise, contrary to the Street's expectations. 

 

However, BPCL's net profit fell about a percent on year to INR 31.92 billion, sharply below analysts' expectations of INR 45.25 billion. A one-time cost of INR 43.49 billion on account of impairment losses on investment in a subsidiary pulled down BPCL's bottom line for the March quarter. But for this one-time accounting cost, BPCL would have outperformed analysts' expectations by far. The company's revenue rose 6.7% to INR 1.19 trillion, excluding excise duty of INR 162.47 billion. Its gross refining margins for the quarter were at $11.74 per barrel in FY26, compared to $6.82 per barrel in FY25.

 

Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd., too, outperformed Street's expectations with a 46.1% on-year rise in net profit to INR 49.02 bln, which is nearly three times higher than consensus estimates of INR 17.99 bln. Its revenue rose 4.9% to INR 1.15 trillion, while gross refining margin was $14.27 per barrel, compared to $8.44 per barrel a year ago.

 

Refiners' strong performance reflected favourable crude oil costs due to inventory held and healthy marketing margins despite volatile global crude oil prices with an upward bias. 

 

The trend was mixed for upstream companies. ONGC saw a net profit growth of 3% on year to INR 66.50 bln, well below the expectations of INR 87.02 bln due to written-off well exploration costs and higher statutory levies. Its revenue increased 2.7% to INR 359.28 bln. On the operational front, the company's standalone crude oil output fell 5% on year to 4.45 million tonnes. For FY26, it was 18.355 million tonnes, down from 18.558 million tonnes in the year-ago period. The company's natural gas output declined 2% on year to 4.78 billion cubic meters in the March quarter while for the full year it fell marginally to 19.533 bcm against 19.564 bcm in FY25.

 

Oil India's performance was the strongest among upstream companies with revenue growth of 8% on year to INR 59.61 bln and a net profit increase of 12.4% to INR 17.90 bln, comfortably surpassing analyst expectations due to better oil production and price realisations due to high global crude oil prices. Oil India said the rise in its bottom line was due to a 6% increase in crude oil production and a 5% increase in price realisation. Crude oil price realisation increased to $77.89 per barrel from $74.46 per barrel in the year-ago quarter. Oil India produced 891,000 tonnes of crude oil from its mature and old oilfields in the March quarter, up from 844,000 tonnes in the year-ago quarter. Its daily production was 10,566 tonnes of crude oil, the highest in the last decade.

 

NATURAL GAS UTILITIES

 

The country's gas transmission and city gas distribution companies faced pressure from weaker volumes and pressure on industrial demand.

 

GAIL (India) Ltd.'s liquefied natural gas supplies from West Asia were disrupted in March due to geopolitical tensions. Due to a force majeure declared by Petronet LNG Ltd. on Mar. 3, regassified LNG allocation to GAIL fell to zero with four LNG cargoes under other contracts also being impacted, the company said in its notes accompanying March quarter results. This saw the company's natural gas sales and transmission volumes fall on month by 21 million standard cubic meters per day and 30 mscm/d in March, respectively. Revenue fell 2.6% to INR 347.73 bln and net profit was down 38.4% to INR 12.62 bln, the earnings being broadly in line with the Street's expectations.

 

Indraprastha Gas Ltd. saw revenue rise 5.5% on year to INR 41.63 bln, while net profit declined 20.4% to INR 2.78 bln amid margin pressures in the city gas business. On a sequential basis, the gas purchase cost rose over 3%, reflecting higher spot prices. Indraprastha Gas relies on imported liquefied natural gas to supplement domestic gas supplies for compressed natural gas and piped natural gas sales, particularly when allocations of lower-priced, government-allotted domestic gas falls short.

 

Meanwhile, Adani Total Gas Ltd. reported revenue growth of 16.1% and a net profit growth of 9.0% during the quarter. The growth was driven primarily by a rise in sales of high-margin compressed natural gas sales that jumped 17% on year to 207 million standard cubic meters of natural gas. CNG accounted for nearly two-thirds of the company's total natural gas sales in the quarter.

 

POWER UTILITIES

 

The power sector delivered a mixed performance, with renewable and transmission businesses outperforming conventional utilities. 

 

NTPC Ltd. posted a revenue of INR 431.11 bln and a net profit of INR 87.47 bln. While the revenue fell short of expectations, profit rose 51.4% on year, aided by tax write-back of INR 87.37 billion. If not for this tax write back, NTPC's net profit would have seen a massive slump. The company's generation segment revenue, too, was down 3% on year at INR 423.19 billion in the March quarter.

 

Power Grid Corp. reported a net profit growth of 5.0% on year to INR 45.53 billion due to a tax write-back in the quarter, and despite a decline in revenue. Revenue from the transmission business, which accounts for an overwhelming majority of its total revenue, fell nearly 11% on year to INR 97 billion. Its total revenue for the March quarter was INR 99.71 billion, down from INR 109.83 billion for the same quarter a year ago.

 

Among private utilities, Adani Power's profit jumped 52.3% on year to INR 40.17 bln, substantially ahead of expectations, but on a sixfold rise in other income to INR 17.66 billion. Tata Power's net profit rose 6% on year to INR 10.86 billion, despite lower revenue and continued closure of over 4 giga watt Mundra coal-based power plant due to regulatory and tariff-related reasons.

 

JSW Energy was the biggest disappointment of the quarter. While its revenue surged over 41% on year to INR 44.99 bln, net profit fell 8.9% to INR 3.72 bln, far below market expectations. This was led by a 138% on-year rise in the company's finance costs, which rose due to incremental borrowings to fund the ongoing capacity expansions.

 

The net profits of renewable energy companies continued to benefit from capacity additions. Adani Green Energy reported a 28.3% rise in net profit, while NTPC Green Energy's profit increased 15.5%. Suzlon Energy reported revenue growth of 44.9%, though profit declined 11.7% on year, as raw material costs increased owing to the impact of military conflict in West Asia. 

 

Coal India Ltd., the country's largest coal producer, outperformed the Street's estimates as revenue grew 5.8% and net profit rose 11.1% during the quarter on higher sales, margins and inventory gains.

 

Overall, the March quarter highlighted the resilience of India's energy sector, with strong refining and power-sector earnings, offsetting weakness in natural gas utilities and parts of the renewable energy space. The quarter also saw the sector continue to navigate challenging macroeconomic signals within the country and the impact of global uncertainty on the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the immediate aftermath of military conflict in West Asia. This critical region is access to supply of critical crude oil, natural gas, and fertiliser needs of India. While Indian energy firms seemingly appear to have geared up for the challenge, most of them have publically voiced continued challenges and pressure on their margins and profitability from the current quarter onwards.

 

The following table shows the performance of the 22 companies from the oil and gas, power, and renewables segment in the Nifty 200 index vis-a-vis the consensus estimate for each company as well as the consensus estimate for the sector and the Nifty 200:

 

Company Name	Sales beat analysts' estimate	Sales Jan-Mar 2026 Actual	Sales Jan-Mar 2025 Actual	Analysts Sales Estimate Jan-Mar 2026	Sales % Growth YoY	PAT Jan-Mar 2026 Actual	PAT Jan-Mar 2025 Actual	PAT Estimate Jan-Mar 2026	PAT % Growth YoY	PAT beat analysts' estimate
		(In INR Million)				(In INR Million)
Nifty 200					12.16%				15.19%
Energy Sector	NO	97,99,051	91,47,846	1,03,61,680	6.96%	8,05,249	7,08,236	7,40,458	11.41%	YES
COAL INDIA LTD.	YES	4,64,900	4,39,616	3,74,644	-14.78%	1,08,392	97,517	91,222	-6.45%	YES
NTPC LTD.	NO	4,31,107	4,39,037	4,75,598	8.33%	87,473	57,781	62,776	8.64%	YES
POWER GRID CORP. OF INDIA LTD.	NO	99,711	1,09,826	1,28,086	16.63%	45,528	43,362	44,360	2.30%	YES
RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LTD.	YES	29,40,590	26,13,880	28,21,371	7.94%	1,69,710	1,94,070	1,93,066	-0.52%	NO
OIL AND NATURAL GAS CORP. LTD.	NO	3,59,282	3,49,822	3,62,993	3.76%	66,500	64,483	87,015	34.94%	NO
ADANI ENERGY SOLUTIONS LTD.	YES	74,433	63,746	68,554	7.54%	6,838	6,472	6,643	2.64%	YES
ADANI GREEN ENERGY LTD.	YES	35,020	30,730	31,909	3.84%	5,080	3,960	2,836	-28.40%	YES
ADANI POWER LTD.	NO	1,42,231	1,42,374	1,43,099	0.51%	40,153	26,370	22,784	-13.60%	YES
BHARAT PETROLEUM CORP. LTD.	NO	11,86,494	11,11,790	13,68,786	23.12%	75,406	49,880	45,248	-9.29%	YES
INDIAN OIL CORP. LTD.	NO	20,78,832	19,49,670	24,43,411	25.32%	1,13,775	72,638	72,482	-0.21%	YES
JSW ENERGY LTD.	NO	44,986	31,894	48,762	52.89%	3,716	4,081	685	-83.20%	YES
SIEMENS ENERGY INDIA LTD.	YES	23,941	18,795	22,569	20.08%	3,746	2,461	3,586	45.70%	YES
THE TATA POWER CO. LTD.	NO	1,49,002	1,70,959	1,64,383	-3.85%	10,861	10,249	8,325	-18.77%	YES
GAIL (INDIA) LTD.	YES	3,47,725	3,56,852	3,30,040	-7.51%	12,622	20,490	12,027	-41.30%	YES
ADANI TOTAL GAS LTD.		15,572	13,413	--	16.10%	1,685	1,546	--	8.89%	NO
HINDUSTAN PETROLEUM CORP. LTD.	NO	11,48,461	10,94,924	13,21,193	20.67%	49,015	33,550	17,986	-46.39%	YES
INDRAPRASTHA GAS LTD.	YES	41,626	39,474	39,557	0.21%	2,778	3,492	2,916	-16.49%	NO
NHPC LTD.	YES	27,413	20,585	20,987	1.95%	13,275	8,939	5,074	-43.24%	YES
OIL INDIA LTD.	NO	59,606	55,189	59,841	8.43%	17,895	15,915	12,770	-19.76%	YES
TORRENT POWER LTD.	NO	64,061	64,563	70,752	9.59%	3,182	10,596	5,575	-47.39%	NO
NTPC GREEN ENERGY LTD.	YES	9,126	6,223	8,200	31.78%	1,971	2,332	3,100	32.92%	NO
SUZLON ENERGY LTD.	NO	54,933	37,899	56,946	50.26%	10,444	11,822	7,760	-34.36%	NO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following table shows the net profit margin of companies in the energy sector:

 

Company	PAT Margin for Mar-26	PAT Margin for Mar-25	PAT Margin for Dec-25
Adani Energy Solutions Ltd.	9.19%	10.15%	9.59%
Adani Green Energy Ltd.	14.51%	12.89%	-0.99%
Adani Power Ltd.	28.23%	18.52%	20.37%
Adani Total Gas Ltd.	10.82%	11.53%	11.00%
Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd.	6.36%	4.49%	6.34%
Coal India Ltd.	23.32%	22.18%	16.87%
Gail (India) Ltd.	3.63%	5.74%	4.71%
Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd.	4.27%	3.06%	3.54%
Indian Oil Corp. Ltd.	5.47%	3.73%	5.93%
Indraprastha Gas Ltd.	6.67%	8.85%	9.51%
JSW Energy Ltd.	8.26%	12.79%	11.89%
NHPC Ltd.	48.43%	43.42%	15.60%
NTPC Green Energy Ltd.	21.59%	37.48%	2.68%
NTPC Ltd.	20.29%	13.16%	12.27%
Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd.	18.51%	18.43%	26.54%
Oil India Ltd.	30.02%	28.84%	16.44%
Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd.	45.66%	39.48%	37.80%
Reliance Industries Ltd.	5.77%	7.42%	7.04%
Siemens Energy India Ltd.	15.65%	13.09%	19.09%
Suzlon Energy Ltd.	19.01%	31.19%	10.77%
The Tata Power Co. Ltd.	7.29%	5.99%	6.09%
Torrent Power Ltd.	4.97%	16.41%	9.49%

 

 

END

 

Data compiled by Vinod Bhovad

 

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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