Gujarat's Panama Papers? State-owned GSPC 'had links with controversial cos'

Subir Ghosh

By Rajiv Shah
In a new book, Subir Ghosh, Bangalore-based journalist, researcher and writer, quoting an ex-Government of India bureaucrat, has alleged that the former bluechip state public sector undertaking (PSU) Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has had links with a company that was associated with dubious business concerns mentioned in the infamous Panama Papers.
Titled “Grand Illusion: The GSPC Disaster and the Gujarat Model”, the book’s writer is a co-author of the controversial “Gas Wars: Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis”, which has invited Rs 100 crore defamation suit from the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). The book was released in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Published by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, another co-author of “Gas Wars”, the book quotes former economic affairs secretary EAS Sarma as writing to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) “bringing in the Panama Papers angle”, says Ghosh, after the ED did not respond to an earlier plea to investigate into GSPC’s alliance with a private company, of which a former Gujarat minister known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a “beneficiary.”
Sarma is quoted as saying, “I find more distressing facts about the Gujarat Natural Resources Ltd (GNRL). It was operating through six subsidiaries which include Heramec, Gorlas, Sigma Oil & Gas & Alkor Petro and Overseas.”
The book says, the GNRL, contrary to its misleading name, is a private limited company and not a state enterprise. Saurabh Patel, a former minister overseeing GSPC, was a “beneficiary investor in GNRL.” Patel, fighting Gujarat state assembly polls from Vadodara and a BJP chief ministerial aspirant, was mysteriously removed as state energy minister after Vijay Rupani took over the state’s reins of power last year.

Book further quotes Sarma as saying, “Both Heramec and Gorlas figure on the website of International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Panama Papers, as evident from the enclosed snapshot pictures of that website.” The book, however, does not provide the “enclosed shapshots”.
Sarma continued, “It is surprising that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) should assign eight oil blocks to [the] GSPC knowing well that Heramec is a 30% partner in Kanawara, North Kathana, Allora, Unawa, North Balol and a partner with Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) in CB-ONN-2004/1, CB-ONN-2004/4 (see pages 71 and 72 of the enclosed GNRL annual report for 2015–16).”
Sarma underlined, “Assignment of such a large number of hydrocarbon blocks to GSPC/GNRL consortium was in itself highly questionable. [The] MoPNG should be asked to explain the circumstances that compelled it to allot these blocks to the Gujarat consortium.”
He added, “In turn, it is distressing as to how [the] GSPC, a state PSU, under the administrative control of Saurabh Patel, the minister, joined hands with such a highly questionable company, namely GNRL, and its subsidiaries and exposed itself to an enormous risk, which in turn got indirectly transmitted to MoPNG, knowing well that GNRL was only a family concern of the minister.”
The accusation comes amidst indications emerging that GSPC, which has reportedly gone bankrupt, is being bailed out by a Central PSU, the largest oil and gas producer, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which has completed a Rs 7,738 crore acquisition of 80% stake in GSPC.
An earlier letter by Sarma to ED had said, “The annual report of GNRL shows how GSPC had allowed that company to have a share in several oil blocks it won in competitive bidding. GNRL was partly owned by Saurabh Patel, the minister in charge of the department in Gujarat.”
Sarma had added, “These findings raise very serious concerns about the way Saurabh Patel had a free hand in the then Modi government of Gujarat and how valuable oil blocks that belong to the people of India were bartered away to foreign nationals of questionable credentials.”

Comments

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

From protest to proof: Why civil society must rethink environmental resistance

By Shankar Sharma* As concerned environmentalists and informed citizens, many of us share deep unease about the way environmental governance in our country is being managed—or mismanaged. Our complaints range across sectors and regions, and most of them are legitimate. Yet a hard question confronts us: are complaints, by themselves, effective? Experience suggests they are not.

Kolkata event marks 100 years since first Communist conference in India

By Harsh Thakor* A public assembly was held in Kolkata on December 24, 2025, to mark the centenary of the First Communist Conference in India , originally convened in Kanpur from December 26 to 28, 1925. The programme was organised by CPI (ML) New Democracy at Subodh Mallik Square on Lenin Sarani. According to the organisers, around 2,000 people attended the assembly.

Dalit woman student’s death sparks allegations of institutional neglect in Himachal college

By A Representative A Dalit rights organisation has alleged severe caste- and gender-based institutional violence leading to the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman student at Government Degree College, Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, and has demanded arrests, resignations, and an independent inquiry into the case.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

The architect of Congolese liberation: The life and legacy of Patrice Lumumba

By Harsh Thakor* Patrice Émery Lumumba remains a central figure in the history of African decolonization, serving as the first Prime Minister of the independent Republic of the Congo. Born on July 2, 1925, Lumumba emerged as a radical anti-colonial leader who sought to unify a nation fractured by decades of Belgian rule. His tenure, however, lasted less than seven months before his dismissal and subsequent assassination on January 17, 1961.

ArcelorMittal faces global scrutiny for retreat from green steel, job cuts, and environmental violations

By Jag Jivan ArcelorMittal is facing mounting criticism after cancelling or delaying nearly all of its major green steel projects across Europe, citing an “unsupportive policy environment” from the European Union . The company has shelved projects in Germany , Belgium , and France , while leaving the future of its Spanish decarbonisation plan uncertain. The decision comes as global unions warn that more than 5,500 jobs are at risk across its operations, including 4,000 in South Africa , 1,400 in Europe, and 160 in Canada .

Venezuela and the crisis of global order: Erosion of rules-based international order

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The American attack on Venezuela violates every principle of international law that the collective West claims to uphold. The response from the European Union—“we are monitoring the situation”—exposes the hollowness of these claims. WhatsApp gossipers may celebrate this as an act of “bravery,” but what kind of bravery is it to intimidate a neighbour that is neither large in size nor strong in military power?

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Search This Blog