1. At a Glance
Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), ONGC’s oil refining arm, is that obedient PSU kid who does everything right on paper — produces record throughput, files patents, even builds desalination plants — yet somehow ends up with ROE less than a fixed deposit.
At ₹150 per share (as of Oct 21, 2025), MRPL commands a market cap of ₹26,368 crore. The Q2FY26 result showed revenue of ₹22,649 crore (–9.3% YoY), but PAT exploded to ₹627 crore — a 190% jump, thanks to improved refining margins and low-cost crude. Gross refining margin (GRM) hit $10.36/bbl, up from $9.88 last year.
Still, the PSU curse lingers — ROE 0.45%, ROCE 4.38%, and a P/E of 25.5 that even the market can’t justify with patriotism alone. Debt sits at ₹10,824 crore, because what’s a PSU without a bit of leverage to keep auditors awake?
2. Introduction
If Reliance is India’s oil baron, MRPL is its middle-class cousin who still fills forms in triplicate. Set up as a JV between AV Birla and HPCL, later adopted by ONGC, MRPL refines 15 million tonnes of crude annually and dreams of being the next BPCL — only without the marketing muscle, petrochemical profits, or investor enthusiasm.
In FY24, revenue slipped 17% due to maintenance shutdowns, yet profits improved. How? Simple: cheap Russian oil + high product spreads = PSU happiness formula. Operating margin rose from 6% to 9%, and the company bragged about processing Siberian Light and KGD6 crude like it discovered oil itself.
But beneath the petroleum-scented success lies the real story — thin margins, policy whiplash, and a retail business (HiQ fuel stations) that’s basically HPCL in cosplay.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
MRPL runs a refinery, sells fuel, makes petrochemicals, and runs retail pumps — basically a jack of all trades, master of refining taxes.
- Refining (Core Business) – 15 MMTPA refinery at Mangaluru processing light to heavy crude. Utilization rate in FY24 was 111%, which sounds impressive until you realize margins are thinner than airline coffee.
- Retail (2.6 MMT Sales, ₹15,400 Cr) – The “HiQ” brand operates 101 outlets in Karnataka & Kerala. Plan: 1000 outlets by FY27. Reality: bureaucratic delays and land approvals slower than a diesel pump on UPS.
- Petrochemicals (Mangpol) – Polypropylene, paraxylene, benzene, toluene, reformate — all fancy products whose prices are decided by global supply-demand drama. Petchem
