Mittal pays first instalment for acquiring stake in HPCL

Mittal Steel chairperson Lakshmi Niwas Mittal today made a payment of five billion rupees as the first instalment for picking up 49 per cent stake in the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)

New Delhi, July 25 : Mittal Steel chairperson Lakshmi Niwas Mittal today made a payment of five billion rupees as the first instalment for picking up 49 per cent stake in the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)

Both the Mittal Energy Investments Private Limited (MEIPL) and the HPCL have 49 per cent stake in the 189.19 billion rupee refinery at Bhatinda.

"We are in a process to get all the allocation under concession from various authorities and I am confident that we will get all the allocation and concession in a short time and we will make a good progress," Mittal Investment Chairman L N Mittal said after meeting Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora.

"This is the first step in oil refinery, so first let us focus on the project that has suffered a lot from the last eight years," Mittal added.

Deora said it was his priority to see the completion and commissioning of the Bhatinda Refinery Project and asked the promoters to put its implementation on fast track.

"Discussion was going on from the past six to seven months, now we are happy that it is justified today with the help of Mittals participation, and with the participation it's sure that the project will go further," Deora said.

Mittal's stake in the project is the first and the largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in petroleum refining sector. It is also the second largest FDI in the energy sector and the third largest ever in the country.

ANI