Reliance Industries availed undue ‘accelerated depreciation’ benefit for a solar power project for which it also got Rs22.49 crore incentive under a government scheme, a CAG report said on Tuesday.
Under Demonstration Programme, solar photovoltaic power project developers availing Generation Based Incentive (GBI) were not eligible to avail Accelerated Depreciation (AD) benefit under the Income Tax Act 1961, as per the official auditor's report tabled in Parliament.
“This was not ensured by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy/Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) before releasing GBI claims of Rs22.49 crore to Reliance Industries ltd (RIl). This resulted in both GBI and AD being claimed by RIl in the period August 2010 to December 2012,” CAG said.
Queries made to an RIl spokesperson for comments remained unanswered. Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation ltd (RRECl) in June 2008 approved a 5 MW Grid Interactive Solar PV Power Generation Project of Reliance Industries ltd (RIl) at District Nagaur, Rajasthan under the Demonstration Scheme.