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Vedanta Anil Agarwal
In signs of protests against the 9-month-old windfall tax, mining mogul Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Ltd has withheld about USD 91 million from the share of profit due to government from its oil and gas fields, to make up for the additional tax outgo, according to sources and correspondence on the issue. India first imposed windfall profit tax on July 1, 2022 joining a growing number of nations that tax super normal profits of energy companies. But the levy of Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) on locally produced crude oil was seen by producers as violation of the contract which provides fiscal stability. The SAED initially was Rs 23,250 per tonne (USD 40 per barrel) and in fortnightly revisions brought down to Rs 3,500 per tonne. This is in addition to the 10-20 per cent royalty on price of oil and gas realised and an oil cess of 20 per cent. On top, the government is also entitled to a pre-decided share of profit after expenses are deducted from revenue earned from sale of oil and .
Metals and mining magnate Anil Agarwal on Friday announced teaming up with London-based firm Centricus to create a USD 10-billion fund that will invest in stake sale of public sector undertakings. Centricus is a global investment firm. Agarwal, who is the executive chairman of Vedanta Resources said in a tweet, "Teamed up with London-based firm Centricus to create a USD 10-billion fund that will invest in stake sale of public sector companies. We are excited with the Union Budget's strong focus on disinvestment and would like to participate in the exercise." He further tweeted that "@Hindustan_Zinc & @Balco_India exemplify our track record of turning around companies post disinvestment without retrenching a single employee." Vedanta Resources Ltd is a globally diversified natural resources company.