Once the LPG importation and storage terminal of IndiaOil Petronas Pvt Ltd goes operational (in December), the Tamil Nadu government will collect Rs 938 crore, over the next 15 year in various taxes, a senior official of the joint venture of Indian Oil Corporation and the Malaysian oil major, Petronas, told Business Line recently.

However, the company now wants sops.

In a recent letter to the state’s Industries Secretary Dr Sundaradevan, Mr U V Mannur, Chief Executive Officer, IndianOil Petronas, has asked for “deferral of tax collected (15 years) and other incentives” for the Rs 500-crore project.

Making out a case for sops, Mr Mannur argues that Tamil Nadu would get be benefitted immensely. Apart from the revenue inflow, there would be “revival of private bottling and parallel marketing of LPG as a result of sustained availability of LPG,” the letter says. Importers using the terminal (IOC and BPCL) would have a ready market in private LPG marketers, such as Chennai LPG, Sun LPG, Malabar Gas, Meena LPG and Surya Gas.

“With the commissioning of our terminal, uninterrupted supply of LPG shall be available to consumers of Tamil Nadu,” Mr Mannur says. Some of the potential industrial buyers of LPG are Hyundai, TVS Motor, TI Cycles, Saint Gobain, Nissan Renault and Ashok Leyland.

IPPL has been trying to get some sops for nearly two years now, it is learnt. But the company’s case was heard only recently. When the company informed the Tamil Nadu government of the incentives it enjoys in West Bengal, where it has a similar facility, it was told that Tamil Nadu could consider only a deferral of VAT.

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