Pre and Post-COVID-19 Financial Performance of Oil and Gas Companies: An Absolute and Relational Study of Financial Variables

The outbreak of COVID-19 affected all aspects of individuals at a worldwide level. It harmed the physically and economically of individuals, and lower the growth of economies, globally. India the third largest consumer of oil and gas was affected by the pandemic, negatively. The study is based on the data collected from the financial statements of Indian oil and gas companies available on the websites. The purpose of the study is to know the financial performance of the Indian oil and gas companies pre and post-COVID-19 pandemic period. The absolute and relational financial variables are applied to get the absolute trend and relational growth of the financial performance of Indian oil and gas companies in graphical form. To explore the profit-earning capacity, short-term paying ability, and long-term paying ability of the Indian oil and gas companies, profitability (profit before tax ratio) ratio, liquidity (current ratio) ratio, and solvency (Debt-Equity ratio) ratio were applied. From 2015 to 2021, the absolute values of revenues, total expenses, and profit before tax were applied to get the trend in graphical form while stacked column charts were prepared to compare the profitability, liquidity, and long-term paying ability of the Indian oil and gas companies. During the pandemic period, total revenues, total expenses, profits, and profitability declined while liquidity and solvency status was unaffected by COVID-19 in Indian oil and gas companies. The profitability of the smaller Indian oil and gas companies improved more than the larger Indian oil and gas companies after the COVID-19 pandemic. It is found that the large-scale production of Indian oil and gas companies was affected more than the smallerscale production of Indian and gas companies by the negativity of the pandemic COVID-19 due to fixed expenses.