(FE)
Though oil refiner-retailer Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) was taken over by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in January this year, the former is yet to recognise the upstream major as its promoter in the mandatory quarterly filings with the stock exchanges. In the filings for Q4FY18 and Q1FY19 on both the BSE and NSE, HPCL clubbed ONGC which owns its 51.11% share among “public shareholders” while still mentioning the President of India (read the Union government) as its promoter with 0% stake.
The “deviation” has caused much heartburn in ONGC and it has already approached the government for a resolution of the issue, sources said. The explorer had to fork out `36,915 crore to acquire a majority stake in the oil marketing company on being prodded by the government, which wanted to boost its non-debt capital receipts. An ostensible purpose of the deal was to further the government’s policy of creating an integrated oil major to compete with global and domestic private players. According to the sources, minority shareholders of ONGC could also raise the matter with the oil explorer’s board. “The matter is creating a lot of confusion,” an official said.
