By Z A Ansari : New Delhi: In a press conference held at the IOCL auditorium in New Delhi, Arvind Singh Sahni, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), unveiled the company’s Annual Results on 30.04.2025. While declaring a Rs 3 Dividend, he assured a rosy future for the company. Amidst wide speculation in Oil & Gas circles and buzz in the media, while replying to a media question, he firmly stated that there are no plans to shut down any refinery. While it may have brought significant relief to employees and their families, concerned about job security due to recent rumours of potential closures, hardliners are reading between the lines. Earlier, fears had been raised that a move to divest part of the profitable section of IOCL could jeopardise livelihoods. Sahni emphasized that IOCL’s marketing division is being reshaped to reclaim market share, with all-out efforts underway to strengthen the company’s position. Sources indicate that this statement comes as a reassurance following recent threats of a strike by the IOCL unions, addressing employee apprehensions about division closures. Additionally, another IOCL director assured that no employee would face termination or injustice, underscoring that IOCL operates like a family committed to safeguarding its workforce’s interests.
However, questions are already being raised in corporate circles: if no divisions are being closed, as stated by the CMD, why has the government yet to take concrete steps to fill vacancies in the pipeline division? What about the loss of market share to private players based on policy fine tuning. The private OMCs were till now concentrating on exports of Products and Trading in Crude. Now they are aggressively looking inwards to capture the lucrative domestic Oil Marketing business. Further developments will be known with passage of time. The corporate sector is closely monitoring these announcements and its long-term implications. Many who are familiar with the Corporate & Government interface say that these statements bring in a sense of deja vu. Remember Air India privatization, were similar averments not made then? Why talk of no loss of jobs when there is not going to be any closure of any division? There seems to be some serious contradiction here. Has the cat after mewing for a while, leapt out of the bag?
The fact that the Finance Ministry actually calls all the shots (more immediately subsidy) in the Oil & Gas Sector in India, is known to all. It’s also known that the Finance Ministry is trying hard to make both ends meet.Till now big ticket announcements of economic push through Capital Investment etc. have not borne fruit. Private sector has shown its reluctance in pure nation building activities.Unemployment is on the rise. Startups have not been exponential. Ease of doing business has not improved drastically. Ecological commitments, Infrastructure development, gathering War Clouds, escalating Oil bills all require monetary commitments and privatization of Government Companies certainly seems to be an easier option. Many are eagerly awaiting the chess moves in the Oil & Gas business in India. And what about the miskeen common man? Well he should remain happy if not bread, he is getting circus.
