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• Essar Oil Ltd has reported net loss of Rs.3,986 crore for the October-December quarter following the adverse impact of a recent Supreme Court (SC) ruling. In the same period last year, the firm had reported a net profit of Rs.273 crore."The net loss of Rs.3,986 crore is on account of an exceptional debit of Rs.4,015 crore towards reversal of sales tax deferral income accounted during May 2008 to December 2011 pending decision on its review petition in the Supreme Court," Essar Oil managing director and chief executive officer L.K. Gupta said.The company posted revenues of Rs.13,897 crore in the quarter ending on 31 December, 2011, compared to Rs.13,809 crore in the same period last year.
• It filed a petition on Thursday seeking a review of the apex court's decision relating to repayment of deferred sales tax.On January 17, SC had set aside a Gujarat High Court judgment permitting the company to avail of a sales tax deferral benefit from the Gujarat government.The Gujarat High Court in an earlier order had extended time to Essar Oil for commencing commercial production at the Vadinar Refinery making the company eligible to avail of Gujarat government's capital investment incentives. Because of reversal of Rs.4,015 crore on account of sales tax, the company's net worth has come down by 54 per cent at Rs.2,854 crore. Essar Oil has not provided for interest of Rs.1,752 crore on sales tax liability as advised by the Commercial Tax department, Gujarat, since the company had deferred the sales tax collection based on the Gujarat High Court order.

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