Many of India's leading public sector firms are running into huge losses on their books as government destroys its own assets with merciless indifference, allowing policy drift to undermine what were once considered its crown jewels.

Here's how shares in rupee-sensitive sectors are likely to perform.

Taking a cue from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas, the Centre has proposed to levy 10 per cent additional duty on passenger diesel cars in the Budget.

The PSU oil companies say they were compelled to raise the petrol price by Rs 1.80 a litre as they had lost Rs 2,468 crore on selling the fuel below cost this fiscal.

This is the second hike in petrol prices in less than two months and it comes at a time when food inflation reached an alarming 12.21 per cent for the week ended October 22.

The red herring prospectus (RHP) is likely to be filed with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on September 5.

The long delay by the finance ministry in reimbursing the government's share of the subsidy on petroleum products is increasing the financial burden of public sector oil companies.

The much talked about Rs 11,500 crore share sale of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp has been deferred again and is unlikely to hit the market before mid-August.

Despite one of the steepest hike in fuel prices, state-run oil firms will still end the fiscal will a whooping Rs 121,700 crore revenue loss on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at government rates.

With a record net profit of Rs 20,211 crore for 2010-11, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has come close to challenging ONGC's position as the country's most profitable company.

IOC Chairman B M Bansal has said the company was expecting to sell share at Rs 450 a piece in the follow-on public offer (FPO), which is planned for late January next year.

With revenues of $22 billion and a profit of $4.24 billion in 2009-10, Oil & Natural Gas Corp aced the list of top oil & gas exploration and production firms in Asia.Check India's best rated companies

State fuel retailers IOC, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum sell diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at government dictated rates, lower than cost of production.

Indian Oil Corp is banking on the reimbursement to clean up its books and show a profit for the first half of the current financial year (April- September).

Despite it being the middle of the week, India Inc. turned up in full strength to hear the Finance Minister at the BT Best CFOs awards night.

The volatility in oil prices over the past few years has been a nightmare for PSU refiners, putting much of the onus of running a stable ship on their CFOs.

In 2008-09, everything that could go wrong - and things that many thought would never go wrong - went awry. It was the Super-CFO who flew to the frontlines. Pics of best CFOs

Given the deepening economic slowdown, is this the right time to start a new venture? Most of the professionals-turned-entrepreneurs in the world of advertsing featured say it is. Some of them even dismiss the slowdown as a phenomenon that will not, or only peripherally, impact them. Anusha Subramanian reports.

Crude oil prices are now finally showing signs of softening. Analysts attribute this to a strengthening US dollar and signs of a weaker demand for crude.