Business-Standard.com: 26% selloff clause waiver for Shell: Global oil major gets nod for 2,000 retail outlets.
P Vaidyanathan Iyer & Sidhartha /New Delhi August 09,2004
The government has exempt Shell India from the 26 per cent mandatory disinvestment clause, and also allowed the global oil major to open 2,000 retail outlets in the country.
Shell India had approached the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) at least twice over the past three years seeking a deletion of the divestment clause. The proposal was finally cleared by Finance Minister P Chidambaram last week.
Finance ministry officials said Shell International had agreed to the divestment condition when it entered India through its wholly owned subsidiary, Shell India.
The company had committed to sell 26 per cent of its paid-up capital to resident Indian shareholders within a stipulated timeframe.
Vikram Mehta, chairman, Shell group of companies in India, told Business Standard: “We are yet to hear from the FIPB. The clause had been imposed when we wanted to undertake bitumen trading. Since then, Shell India is no longer engaged in trading activities.”
Shell had contended that the government had subsequently allowed 100 per cent foreign shareholding in the trading of chemicals and petrochemicals and hence the divestment clause should be done away with.
Earlier, it had represented to the FIPB that the company only intended to trade in chemicals and petrochemicals and the board should take a view in tune with the prevalent foreign direct investment norms.
Mehta said Shell Marketing India would roll out retail outlets this year but refused to disclose details. “We got permission to open retail outlets only last week, and we will set up the 2,000 outlets in a phased manner,” Mehta said.
When asked about the fulfillment of the Rs 2,000 crore investment criterion for entry into the retail segment, Mehta said: “We have a presence in India through eight or nine companies and we have spent significantly more than Rs 2,000 crore. It could be close to Rs 3,000 crore.”
Decks cleared
*Shell India had approached the FIPB at least twice over the past three years for a waiver of the selloff clause
*The company says it has met the criterion of investing Rs 2,000 cr in India for entry in the retail sector
*The finance ministry said Shell had committed to the disinvestment clause when it had forayed into India
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
