NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Refiner Indian Oil Corp is withdrawing its proposed 220 billion rupee ($2.63 billion) rights issue of shares, it said on Monday, citing non-participation from the federal government.
The ministry of petroleum and natural gas conveyed that no funds have been allocated for capital support of oil marketing companies in the federal budget, having previously proposed allocation of 300 billion rupees, IOC said in a stock exchange filing.
In view of the government’s non-participation, the board decided to withdraw the proposed rights issue announced last year, said IOC, the country’s largest oil refiner.
The federal government last year proposed to fund energy transition projects of three big state refiners — IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp — in exchange for equity.
Early this year Reuters reported that the government had planned to give 150 billion rupees of equity support for the refiners instead of the proposed 300 billion rupees to help fund their green energy projects.
($1 = 83.7550 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Sethuraman NR; Editing by David Goodman)
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