India’s offer to Cairn in $1.4-bn arbitration battle: ‘Pay half the dues and move on’
Discussions between finance ministry officials and Cairn Energy CEO Simon Thomson – and his team – continued for the second day on Friday, but it appears the government wants Cairn to settle the dispute using the Vivad se Vishwas scheme; under the scheme, the company will have to pay around half the amount due sans interest and penalties in cases where the tax department has lost a case in a forum and filed an appeal, as the instant one.
Simultaneously, the government has also decided that it will challenge the arbitration award.
While Cairn has filed a case in a US court to enforce the $1.4-billion arbitration award ($1.2 billion plus interest and penalties) that it has just won and this can, eventually, even lead to Indian assets – properties of Indian embassies, even possibly Air India’s planes – being attached, finance ministry sources feel that this is not going to be easy either and can be a long-drawn process.
