B. Ashok, the chairman of IndianOil has said that though India now possesses excess refining capacity, the demand for energy is expected to increase in future. While the current demand stands at 165 million tonnes per year, the country’s total refining capacity is estimated to be 215 million tonnes.

Although the global falling prices of crude oil haven’t quite affected the prices of petrol and diesel in India, it sure did have a positive impact on the country’s oil companies. “The company’s borrowings, which stood at around Rs.80,000 crore in 2013-14, has decreased to less than Rs.50,000 crore now,” he said. “We also made savings of Rs.1600 crore on interest alone in 2014-15.”

On the retail automation drive, he said that all IOC fuel stations in Chennai will be fully automated by November, and Tiruchirapalli by December, followed by Madurai and Salem.