Govt rejects Haldia Petro's plea of custom duty relaxation

Says rejection has been made on the basis of failing to meet export obligations under the advance licensing scheme

The government has rejected the plea of troubled Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) seeking relaxation in payment of customs duty for the violation of Foreign Trade Development and Regulation Act, an official said.

"The policy relaxation committee (PRC) of the Commerce Ministry has rejected the plea of HPL seeking relief from payment of customs duty by the company," Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Praveer Kumar told PTI.

He said that the rejection was made on the basis of a case registered by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for failing to meet export obligations under the advance licensing scheme.

HPL had obtained advance license for importing naphtha at zero duty, for which the company was supposed to meet export obligation norms.

But HPL had failed to meet them, he said.

Kumar said that the ministry had advised the company informally to look at the best possible ways to go about it and asked both the West Bengal government and the promoters to deliberate on the matter.

He further said, the company had also been asked to approach the revenue department of the Finance Ministry to get the relief.

The management control of the company is now in the hands of Purnendu Chatterjee of the The Chatterjee Group (TCG).