The government of Mozambique has collected more than US$227 million in capital gains tax from the sale of shares by India’s Videocon Group. The shares in the Rovuma Basin Offshore Area One, where large quantities of natural gas have been discovered, were sold to Indian public sector companies – ONGC Videsh and Oil India.
Videocon was the owner of 10% of the shares in the Area One of the Rovuma Basin through its subsidiaries – the British Virgin Islands-incorporated company Videocon Hydrocarbon Holding Ltd, as well as Videocon Mauritius Energy Ltd, based in Mauritius, and Videocon Mozambique Rovuma One Ltd, based in Mozambique. From the sale of its shares, Videocon received US$2.47 billion, according to Indian press.
The tax of US$227 million paid from this transaction to the tax authorities of Mozambique makes 9.1% of US$2.47 billion. It can be said that, since operations to collect capital gains tax started in 2012, total amount of tax was US$802.8 million, all paid by companies operating in the Rovuma Basin.
