Deora says windfall tax issue not under oil ministry's purview

[K.Karthik Raja]

Deora says windfall tax issue not under oil ministry's purview
Wednesday, Jul 9

NEW DELHI - Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora today
declined
to comment on reports the government may impose windfall gains tax on
private
oil companies, as demanded by the Left and the Samajwadi Party.
"I cannot comment. It is not in the jurisdiction of the petroleum
ministry. It is handled by the finance ministry," Deora told reporters
on the
sidelines of an industry function.
Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh had reportedly
written to
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking levy of up to 50% windfall
profit tax on
private companies in both upstream and downstream sectors.
The Uttar Pradesh-based party has also demanded withdrawing the
export-oriented status given to private refiners like Reliance
Industries Ltd.
Deora's response on this issue was similar. "This comes under the
commerce
and industry ministry. We have to ask the commerce minister."
Samajwadi Party has now become a key ally for the Congress-led
United
Progressive Alliance, after the Left Front's withdrawal of support to
the
government over the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear deal.
Deora said the nuclear deal will help wipe out electricity
scarcity in the
country.
On India's latest licensing round of oil and gas blocks, the
minister
said, "We are still evaluating how successful NELP-VII (New
Exploration and
Licensing Policy) has been."
The bids for the blocks on offer had closed on Jun 30.
The government received 181 bids from 96 companies for 45
exploration
blocks and expects an investment of over $3 bln under seventh round.
For 12
blocks, no bids were offered.
The exploration blocks will be awarded by the end of September.
End

.