Cairn Begins Process To Seize Indian Overseas Assets To Recover $1.7 Billion

Sources in the government said India will take all necessary steps to defend against any such "illegal enforcement action".

UK's Cairn Energy Plc has brought a lawsuit in the US to pierce the corporate veil between the Indian government and its owned flag carrier Air India so as to seize its overseas assets to recover USD 1.7 billion it has been awarded by an international arbitration tribunal for being taxed retroactively. The firm first moved courts in the US, UK, Canada, France, Singapore, the Netherlands and three other countries to register the December 2020 arbitration tribunal ruling that overturned the Indian government's Rs 10,247 crore demand in back taxes and ordered New Delhi to return the value of shares it had sold, dividends seized and tax refunds withheld to recover the tax demand. Now, the firm has begin bringing lawsuits in the US and other countries to pierce the corporate veil between the Indian government and its owned companies such as in oil and gas, shipping, airline and banking sectors, to seize their overseas assets to recover the money awarded, three sources with direct knowledge of the development said. In the first instance, it filed a lawsuit on May 14 in the US District court for the Southern District of New York, seeking to make Air India liable for the judgment. The lawsuit argued that Air India as a state-owned company is "legally indistinct from the state itself".