HPCL fourth-quarter profit falls nearly 4 percent

State-owned refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd on Tuesday posted a nearly 4 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit, hurt by higher expenses.

A man cleans an oil tanker parked outside a Hindustan Petroleum fuel depot in Mumbai, October 6, 2017. REUTERS/ Danish Siddiqui/Files

Net profit was 17.48 billion rupees ($257.04 million) in the three months ended March 31, compared with 18.19 billion rupees a year earlier, the company said on Tuesday.

That compares with the 17.59 billion rupees average estimate of 21 analysts, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Total expenses rose 13.8 percent to 646.21 billion rupees, while income from operations rose 13 percent to 663.51 billion rupees.

($1 = 68.0050 Indian rupees)