ExxonMobil and Cairn Energy.

"The annual circus, alias the Budget, is here again. Zee. "Given that it's his last, big spending opportunity before next year's general elections, it won't be unreasonable to expect Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sprinkle the Fed 1 government budget with a dose of populism," wrote Andy Mukherjee. "The global economy is slowing." "Even with a bumper tax harvest - thanks to faster-than-expected domestic inflation - the federal government will just about meet its targeted budget deficit of 6.4% of gross domestic product for the fiscal year that ends on March 31." "India's macroeconomic imbalance is already among the worst across major economies." "Energy giant ExxonMobil is keen to invest in the Indian upstream sector, but wants the country to offer protection against expropriation, neutral arbitration and globally competitive returns that must stay intact through the term of the contract." ET. Sounds extremely reasonable. And, India's "Crude oil production at 29.69 million tonnes in 2021-22 (April 2021 to March 2022) was 2.63 percent lower than the 30.5 million tonnes output a year back and 11.67 percent below the target of 33.61 million tonnes, according to official data." Outlook. "According to official data, India's total petroleum consumption in 2019-20 was 194.3 million metric tonnes (MMT)." HT. "The annualised consumption growth in April - September 2022 was 107.7 MMT." "India, the world's third biggest oil consuming and importing nation, spent USD 119.2 billion in 2021-22 (April 2021-March 2022), up from USD 62.2 billion in the previous year, according to data." ET. So, we desperately need enormous investment in our oil and gas sectors to reduce our import bill. But then, there was Cairn Energy. Using a retrospective tax law "the tax department in 2014 attached and subsequently sold the residual shares that Cairn held in the India unit. It also withheld tax refunds and confiscated dividends due to it to settle part of the tax demand. All this totaled Rs 7,900 crore (Rs 79 billion)." ET. Cairn moved courts abroad to attach flats used by Indian diplomats in Paris and Air India planes. Finally, in February 2022 the government had to refund the entire amount. A humbling experience. The government abruptly changed rules for e-commerce in December 2018 affecting US companies Amazon and Walmart, which had just bought the Indian company Flipkart. This, after Walmart bought a 77% stake in Flipkart for an eye-watering amount of $16 billion, ET, and had paid taxes of Rs 74.39 billion. ET. What has all this to do with the budget? Because tax rules and rates can be changed to finance handouts for the election in 2024. After all, the government earned over Rs 8 trillion in taxes on petrol and diesel in the three years to 2021. ET. ExxonMobil is right to be terrified.