British oil firm Cairn Energy plc has seen its cost of fighting an arbitration against the Indian government imposing retrospective tax nearly tripling in 2018 even as it lost investments and tax refunds pending final award.
Cairn in its latest annual report said administrative expense towards Indian tax arbitration has risen to $22.9 million (about Rs 158.4 crore) in 2018 from $8.1 million (about Rs 56 crore) in 2017.
The company which gave the country its biggest oil discovery received a notice from the Income Tax Department in January 2014, requesting information relating to the group re-organisation done in 2006. Alongside, the Income Tax Department attached the company’s near 10 per cent shareholding in its erstwhile subsidiary, Cairn India. In March 2015, the tax department sought Rs 10,247 crore in taxes on alleged capital gains made by the company in the internal reorganisation.
