Essar Energy sees tax ruling appeal disallowed by India's supreme court

Essar Energy has seen its appeal against an Indian tax ruling disallowed by the country's supreme court. In January the company lost out i n relation to a scheme whereby it had been able to defer the repayment of sales tax. So far it has benefited to the tune of $1.24bn, but this looks like it will now come to an end. The company - 77% owned by Indian conglomerate Essar - was originally due to repay the tax from 2021 onwards, but the ruling meant it was unclear when the payments will now start. Essar has now said its review petition has been disallowed, but it added it had already recognised the liability in its accounts and was in talks about finalising repayment of the liabilities. It is also in discussions with banks about meeting the repayment obligations. The news has sent Essar - which was ejected from the FTSE 100 at the most recent quarterly index review - down 6.1p to 154.6p.