NEW DELHI: The Rs 225-crore excise duty slap on the Reliance group in the recent duty hikes imposed by the Chandra Shekhar Government has come as a great shock not only to the high-flying chairman of the company Mr Dhirubhai Ambani but to his friends in the corridors of power.
The hike is the severest to be imposed on any firm in contrast to what other private companies like Bombay Dyeing Birlas or Singhanias had received. The Ambanis will have to pay Rs 225 crore extra in a single year while the total duty hikes were to the tune of Rs 1340 crore on yarn aerated water fibers and other items.
What is more it has come within days of Mr Dhirubhai Ambani’s hear-to-heart talk with the Prime Minister in his South Block office. Most Important of all is the fact that despite having a friend as finance minister in Mr Yashwant Sinha and another minister in the Prime Minister’s office Mr Kamal Morarka the Ambanis had got no advance clue about the excise hike.
According to authoritative sources the Ambanis’ local troubleshooter Balasubramaniam got wind of the act on December 16 He is believed to have approached a senior minister and requested that the notification be held in abeyance for a day. The minister however made it clear that it cannot be done because it had gone to the President of India.
Mr Chandra Shekhar reportedly made it clear that he is not obliged to any industrialist. He is reported to have said that if the Ambanis had helped in bringing down the V.P.Singh government they did it for their own benefit. He had never asked them to do so. He was opposed to Mr V.P.Singh but he never sought the help of the Ambanis.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 18, 1991
