The government has issued oil bonds worth Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) to the three oil marketing companies to compensate for their under-recoveries on the sale of petroleum products during the current financial year.
Indian Oil Corporation has been issued oil bonds worth Rs 5,817.27 crore (around Rs 58.17 billion), while Bharat Petroleum Corporation has been issued bonds worth Rs 2,144.32 crore (around Rs 21.44 billion). Hindustan Petroleum Corporation has got bonds worth Rs 2,038.41 crore (around Rs 20.38 billion). Prior to this, bonds worth Rs 60,967 crore (Rs 609.67 billion) had already been issued.
The OMCs are estimated to close the financial year 2008-09 with under-recoveries of Rs 1,03,908 crore (Rs 1,039.08 billion). The total value of such government bonds issued for the year now stands at Rs 70,967 crore (Rs 709.67 billion), while another Rs 32,000 crore (Rs 320 billion) has been absorbed by the upstream companies.