With UK’s
Cairn Energy Plc looking to seize Indian assets to recover
USD 1.2 billion it was awarded by an
international arbitration tribunal, the Indian
government has dug in heels and put banks on vigil for any such action.
Cairn Energy has said it taking necessary actions to access the USD 1.7 billion it was awarded by an international arbitration tribunal after overturning a retroactive tax demand slapped by the Indian government.
The Department of Financial Services has asked public sector banks to appoint a nodal officer amid increasing concerns that overseas assets or deposits of these lenders could be attached.
The department wrote a letter to public sector bank chiefs suggesting they immediately inform Sanjay Kumar, director – banking operations, if they receive ‘any intimation/notice/letter’ from Cairn Energy Plc and its subsidiary Cairn UK Holdings.
“Banks are advised to appoint a nodal officer in the case for any future correspondence, and share the name, designation and contact details of the official with us,” Jnanatosh Roy, under secretary, department of nancial services, nance ministry, wrote in the letter.
Cairn Energy and the government are locked in a legal battle over an arbitration order that requires India to pay $1.2 billion.
Withdraw funds
Last week, the central government has asked public sector banks to withdraw funds from their foreign currency accounts abroad, as New Delhi fears Cairn Energy may try to seize the cash after an arbitration ruling in a tax dispute.
A guidance was sent to state-run banks to withdraw funds from their nostro accounts.
A nostro account refers to an account a bank holds overseas at another bank in the currency of that jurisdiction. Such accounts are used for international trade and to settle other foreign exchange transactions.
While the Indian government has filed an appeal, the London-listed firm has started identifying Indian assets overseas, including bank accounts, that could be seized in the absence of a settlement, which Cairn says it is still pursuing.
The company has registered its claim against India in courts in the United States, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Singapore and Quebec, moves that could make it easier to seize assets and enforce the arbitration award.
The government was concerned courts abroad could order funds in their jurisdiction be remitted to Cairn.
Cairn said in February it was discussing several proposals with the government to find a solution.
India’s stand
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has earlier said that an international arbitration ruling on India’s sovereign right to taxation sets the wrong precedent, but said the government is looking at how best it can sort out the issue arising out of New Delhi being ordered to return $1.2 billion plus interest and cost to UK’s Cairn Energy Plc.
The government, which participated in an international arbitration brought by the Scottish firm against being taxed retrospectively, has appealed against The Hague based tribunal’s ruling asking the government to return the value of shares expropriated and liquidated, tax refunds withheld and dividend seized to recover a wrongly levied retroactive tax demand.
“We don’t believe in retrospective taxation,” she had said. “However, when issues are taken at arbitration… which question India’s sovereign right to taxation, we are worried that it sets a wrong precedent.” The Indian government argues that tax levied by a sovereign power should not be subject to private arbitration. Cairn had previously said the award is binding and it can enforce it by seizing overseas Indian assets.
Sitharaman, however, added that the government is looking to sort out the issue.
“I want to see how we can best sort this out,” she said, without elaborating.
The award
Cairn was awarded damages of more than $1.2 billion-plus interest and costs in December in a long-drawn-out tussle with the Indian government over its retrospective tax claims.
The Scottish firm invested in the oil and gas sector in India in 1994 and a decade later it made a huge oil discovery in Rajasthan. In 2006, it listed its Indian assets on the BSE.
Five years after that, the government passed retroactive tax law and billed Cairn Rs 10,247 crore plus interest and penalty for the reorganisation tied to the flotation.
The state then expropriated and liquidated Cairn’s remaining shares in the Indian entity, seized dividends and withheld tax refunds to recover a part of the demand.
Cairn challenged the move before an arbitration tribunal in The Hague, which in December awarded it $1.2 billion (over Rs 8,800 crore) plus costs and interest, which totals USD 1.725 billion (Rs 12,600 crore) as of December 2020.
The company has since then been in talks with the finance ministry to get the government to pay the award.