Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd on Monday said its net profit more than doubled in the March quarter on the back of a recovery in fuel marketing margins and better refining margins.

The company's standalone net profit at Rs 6,478 crore in the January-March quarter compares to Rs 2,501 crore in the same period a year back, according to a company's stock exchange filing.

The jump in fourth-quarter net profit helped the company post Rs 1,870.10 crore of net profit for the full fiscal year 2022-23 (April 2022 to March 2023) by negating the losses the firm had to suffer in the first half of the financial year from holding petrol, diesel and LPG prices despite a surge in cost.

BPCL and other state-owned fuel retailers continue to hold prices but a fall in international oil prices has meant that they are now making healthy margins.

Petrol and diesel prices have been on a freeze since April 6 last year. The basket of crude oil that India imports was over USD 100 per barrel in April last year and is now less than USD 75.

Crude oil is processed in refineries such as ones owned by BPCL into fuel.

While the prices have fallen, the three state-owned firms continue to hold rates to recoup losses suffered in the first half of the fiscal year.

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