NEW DELHI: Flagship explorer ONGC does not see the Centre imposing a windfall tax — similar to the measure announced by the UK government last week — to tap part of the record profit made by the company due to surging global prices, chairman Alka Mittal said on Monday.
“We have no signal from the government on this. Rather, the government has been conveying to us to go aggressive on spending on exploration to augment domestic output and cut import reliance. I don’t think they (government) will be talking about this (windfall tax),” Mittal said.
The government last week cut excise duty on petrol and diesel to ease pump prices. It said the move would cost the exchequer Rs 1 lakh crore per year in tax revenue, which prompted talks of windfall tax in industry circles.
Mittal is the second head of a public sector explorer after Oil India Ltd chairman S C Mishra to rule out the possibility of windfall tax at a time the government is seeking foreign investment in exploration.
