New Delhi, May 14 -- The Centre's decision to rationalise upstream royalty rates could increase standalone earnings of state-run oil producers ONGC and Oil India, according to a report by Kotak Institutional Equities.

The government had earlier announced a rationalisation of royalty rates for crude oil, natural gas and casing head condensate under the amended Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act and Petroleum & Natural Gas (PNG) Rules, with Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri saying the move marks a "new era" for India's oil and gas regime by creating a "stable, predictable, and investor-aligned framework."

Upstream royalty refers to the fee or share paid by oil and gas companies to the government for extracting crude oil and na...