Cairn Energy ready to 'defend its position' over Indian tax case

31st Jan 2014 08:08

Cairn Energy issued a statement saying it would 'take whatever steps are necessary to protect the company's interests and to defend its position' following the recent request for information from the Indian Income Tax Department. The FTSE 250 oil and gas exploration and development company was told it had to provide information regarding its income tax assessments for the year ended March 31st 2007, which it said correspondence had indicated was related to amendments introduced in the 2012 Indian Finance Act, which seek to tax prior year transactions under retrospective legislation.The group stressed it had been "fully compliant with the tax legislation in force in each year". "Cairn intends to take whatever steps are necessary to protect the company's interests and to defend its position," it said."Cairn will continue to pursue its current exploration and development programme as planned."As previously reported, the group has been temporarily banned from selling its shares in Cairn India, which at the end of 2013 were valued at $1.0bn. NR