Thaindian News

Kolkata, Jun 15 (IANS) Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), a joint-venture of the West Bengal government and the Chatterjee Group, will be on the road to recovery once issues of ownership, import duties and sales tax are settled, a top executive said Wednesday.

“It (HPL) has every thing to become a viable petrochemical company. The zero date for it will start after management issue and two duty issues regarding naphtha and motor spirit are settled,” HPL managing director Partha S. Bhattacharyya said on the sidelines of a programme organised by the Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce (MCC) here.

The dispute over management control in HPL is pending judgment in the Supreme Court.

“The hearing is fully over. A judgment on management control is pending. I hope that the judgment will be welcomed by all sides,” Bhattacharyya said.

He said imposition of import duty on naphtha was affecting the HPL’s margin as it was importing a huge amount of naphtha.

On motor spirit, he said that in 2006, the West Bengal government notified the HPL as an oil company, and because of that decision, the company was not recovering sales tax by selling motor spirit to other oil companies.

“Because of that, the annual loss for the company is about Rs.360 crore. We are urging the government to denotify it as an oil company. Allow us more time,” he said.

He said once these three issues were settled, the company could approach the banks for loans.

“We want to be a price leader in eastern India,” he added.