Panic selling! Major oil stocks crack, hit all-time low, govt to blame; HPCL, BPCL, IOC, ONGC down up to 29%; all details here

Panic continues unabated on stock exchanges especially Sensex, with the index tumbling by more than 400 points giving up its 35,000 mark. Shockingly, it was oil and gas stocks where investors did the heavy selling. The S&P BSE Oil & Gas has plunged by nearly 1900 points so far, however, at around 10:46 hours, the index was trading at 12,572.19 down 1335.08 points or 9.60%. Oil Marketing Companies like HPCL, IOCL and BPCL were worst performers. Something, that government is to be blamed for over its decision to cut fuel rates and saddling oil companies with a massive burden. 

Currently, the HPCL took the lead as the top loser on the index by trading at Rs 174.10 down by Rs 46.40 or 21.03%. However, the company has plunged by a massive 25% so far on BSE with an all-time low of Rs 165.45 per piece.

BPCL was trading at Rs 274.60 per piece down by Rs 61.75 or 18.36%. However, it has tumbled by nearly 29% by touching an all-time low of Rs 105.65 per piece. 

Even IOCL was not faraway, as it was trading at Rs 120.60 per piece lower by Rs 20.25 or 14.38%. However, the company had slipped by nearly 25% after it clocked an all-time low of Rs 105.65 per piece earlier today. 

Meanwhile, the largest oil provider ONGC also took a massive hit on exchanges, as it was trading at Rs 154.40 per piece down by Rs 20.40 or 12.07%. The company has given away nearly 15% after it cracked a low of Rs 149.10 per piece today. 

Other stocks that tumbled on the index were - Oil India at Rs 185.95 per piece down by 11.17%, GAIL at Rs 340 per piece low by 7.75%, Indraprastha Gas at Rs 227.40 per piece below 3.32%, Reliance Industries at Rs 1085.75 per piece down 3.11%, Castrol India at Rs 138.95 per piece down 2.01% and Petronet at Rs 212.95 per piece down 0.84%. 

This bloodbath in oil sectors was due to the government slashing excise duty o fuels, while forcing the OMCs to absorb Re 1 per litre cut in petrol and diesel prices, which are at new heights. 

On Thursday, the government decided to cut excise duty by Rs 1.50 and OMCs will absorb Re 1, therefore, a total of Rs 2.50 will be reduced on both diesel and petrol. 

Making this announcement in a press conference, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "We are writing to the state government that as the central govt is cutting Rs 2.50 on both petrol & diesel, they do the same.

"Several macroeconomic data is indicating stable measures. The first quarterly results have shown an 8.2% growth. Inflation is still moderate less than 4%," said Jaitley, adding "Rs 10,500 crore will be the impact of excise duty cut this year."

Today, the new cut impact was witnessed in fuel prices. As a litre of petrol was available at Rs 81.50 (from previous Rs 84) in New Delhi, in Kolkata at Rs 83.35 (from previous Rs 85.80), in Mumbai at Rs 86.97 (from previous Rs 91.34) and in Chennai at Rs 84.70 (from previous Rs 87.33). 

Moreover, a litre of diesel today is priced at Rs 72.95 (from previous Rs 75.45) in New Delhi, in Kolkata at Rs 74.80 (from previous Rs 77.30), in Mumbai at Rs 77.45 (from previous Rs 80.10) and in Chennai at Rs 77.11 (from previous Rs 79.79).

Earlier, states like Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka reduced VAT on petrol diesel to give some comfort to consumers.

Almost half of the fuel price is made up of taxes. The centre levies a total of Rs 19.48 per litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs 15.33 per litre on diesel, and the states too levy value added tax (VAT). 

The new development comes as a good news for consumers on petrol and diesel prices, however, bad news for OMCs as their earnings will be impacted to a large extent.