HPCL consol. PAT dips 6% YoY to ₹3,625 Cr as revenue jumps 26%, beats Street

HPCL's consolidated net profit for Q2 FY27 (quarter ended September 30, 2026) was ₹3,625 Cr (EPS ₹17.04), down 6% YoY from ₹3,859 Cr (EPS ₹18.14) in Q2 FY26, even as revenue from operations grew 26% YoY to ₹1,39,114 Cr from ₹1,10,397 Cr. Standalone PAT was ₹3,483 Cr (EPS ₹16.37), tracking the consolidated print closely. The more dramatic move is sequential: HPCL had posted a consolidated net loss of ₹12,265 Cr in Q1 FY27 amid a margin/inventory crisis, so this quarter is a clean return to profit — but per our YoY-first convention, the headline rests on the modest profit decline against last year, not the quarter-on-quarter swing.

Net profit margin slipped to 2.61% from 3.50% a year ago, while operating margin actually improved to 5.48% from 4.92% — both metrics recovering sharply from Q1's negative readings (NPM -8.45%, OPM -12.37%). The recovery was driven by refining: standalone notes put the H1 FY27 average Gross Refining Margin at US$27.89/bbl versus US$5.95/bbl in the year-ago half (before SAED/infrastructure-cess impact on export GRM). A heavier consolidated tax charge of ₹3,195 Cr on PBT of ₹6,820 Cr (effective rate ~47%, driven by a ₹3,195 Cr deferred-tax provision) ate into the bottom line relative to the topline's growth, explaining why PAT trailed revenue so markedly.

The stock went into the print at ₹340.8, down 4.7% over the past month of trading.

The print beat Street. Pre-result brokerage estimates from ICICI Securities and JM Financial had pencilled consolidated PAT of roughly ₹2,650-2,700 Cr on inventory gains and improving margins, while Zee Business had modelled a continued loss narrowing to ₹4,478 Cr; the actual ₹3,625 Cr cleared both comfortably. On guidance, management issued no quantitative FY27 target on the Q1 FY27 call (Aug 18, 2026), so there is no formal number to grade this print against; the qualitative asks from that call — Samriddhi 2.0 cost savings (₹1,500 Cr run-rate target), HRRL utilization reaching 85-90% by Q3 and full by Q4, and RUF stabilization by Q3/Q4 — are H2 FY27 checkpoints not addressed in this filing's disclosures. No management press-release commentary was available for this result to cross-check framing. Separately, the unrecognised LPG under-recovery buffer grew to ₹18,048.82 Cr from ₹12,798.67 Cr at FY26-end, a deferred-compensation overhang still outside reported profit; the company also flagged a senior management change effective October 1, 2026, alongside the results.