IOC pins hopes on strong rupee

Being faced with a volatile undertone in crude and product prices leading to rise in under-recoveries, IOC (and other marketing companies) is pinning hopes on a strong rupee to ease pressure on working capital.

Though he prefers to consider the present slide of dollar as a "temporary phenomenon", Mr S.V. Narasimhan, Director (Finance) of IOC, says that a stronger rupee partially sets aside the impact of upward trends in crude prices.

"If rupee gains by 100 paise against dollar, our cost of crude comes down by 2%," he said. Naturally the working capital, which is under strain in the face of Rs 65 crore under-recovery a day by the company, gets some relief.