Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd, a unit of state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC), plans to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore through a domestic bonds issue during the current fiscal to meet financing needs.

The board of directors of Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd (CPCL) have approved raising "funds through domestic bonds up to Rs 1,000 crore during the FY 2020-21 through private placement, towards balancing the short term/long term (borrowing) mix," the firm said in a regulatory filing.

The proposed bond issue would be within the overall borrowing limit of Rs 10,000 crores approved by the shareholders in August last year.

The company had a borrowing of Rs 2,952.77 crore as on March 31, 2020.

It further said because of "losses during the financial year 2019-20, the Board has not recommended any dividend."

CPCL on Wednesday had reported widening of net loss in fourth quarter of 2019-20 fiscal ended March 31 to Rs 1,637.56 crore, from Rs 29.33 crore in the same period a year ago on lower crude producing and inventory losses.

Revenue from operations dipped to Rs 11,769.39 crore in January-March from Rs 12,765.15 crore a year back.

In full 2019-20 fiscal, the company saw its net loss widen to Rs 2,077.58 crore, from Rs 213.36 crore net loss in the previous financial year.

"Average gross refining margin for the period April-March is a negative USD 1.18 per barrel (compared to a refining margin of USD 3.70 per barrel in the previous year). The gross refining margin is significantly impacted by inventory losses on account of steep fall in crude/product prices during the year end caused by the COVID-19 pandemic situation," it had said.

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First Published:May 22, 2020 9:42 AM IST