Budget 2020-21 + FINANCE BILL, 2020

Exemption in respect of certain income of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited.

Section 10 of the Act provides for exemption in respect of certain incomes and activities under specific circumstances. Clause (48A) thereof, inserted by the Finance Act, 2016, provides that any income accruing or arising to a foreign company on account of storage of crude oil in a facility in India and sale of crude oil therefrom to any person resident in India shall not be included in the total income, if such storage and sale by the foreign company is pursuant to an agreement or an arrangement entered into by the Central Government or approved by the Central Government; and having regard to the national interest, the foreign company and the agreement or arrangement are notified.

Clause (48B) of said section, inserted by the Finance Act, 2017 and amended by the Finance Act, 2018, provides for exemption in respect of any income accruing or arising to a foreign company on account of sale of leftover stock of crude oil, if any, from the facility in India after the expiry of the agreement or the arrangement referred to in clause (48A) or on termination of the said agreement or the arrangement, in accordance with the terms mentioned therein, as the case may be, subject to such conditions as may be notified by the Central Government in this behalf.

It is now proposed to provide exemption, by inserting a new clause in section 10, to any income accruing or arising to Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL), being a wholly owned subsidiary of Oil Industry Development Board under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, as a result of an arrangement for replenishment of crude oil stored in its storage facility in pursuance to directions of the Central Government in this behalf. This exemption shall be subject to the condition that the crude oil is replenished in the storage facility within three years from the end of the financial year in which the crude oil was removed from the storage facility for the first time.

This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2020 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2020-21 and subsequent assessment years.

[Clause 7]

Budget 2020-21 + FINANCE BILL, 2020