True: The Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) left behind a debt burden of Rs 1.3 lakh crore in oil bonds for the Modi government.

By: Annie Priya
July 27 2021

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The NDA government repaid ₹3,500 crores worth of oil bonds maturing in 2015, with remaining oil bonds worth ₹1.3 lakh crore still due.The Centre is still dealing with overdue subsidy bills of over Rs 1.3 lakh crore dating back to UPA-era oil bonds, which were issued to public sector oil marketing companies. On Dec. 12, 2018, Dharmendra Pradhan, the minister in charge of Petroleum and Natural Gas, confirmed in the Rajya Sabha that the government had only repaid ₹ 3,500 crores worth of oil bonds, and the remaining bonds worth more than ₹ 1.3 lakh crore are still pending. According to annexure 6E of the receipt budget 2014-15, titled "Special Securities Issued To Oil Marketing Companies In Lieu Of Cash Subsidy", when the NDA government took over, the pending liabilities related to oil bonds were ₹1,34,423 crore. The only set of bonds due to mature during the 2014-19 period were the two sets of bonds that matured in 2015, totaling at ₹3,500 crores. The annexure of the receipt budget of 2019-20 shows the same set of pending liabilities. The Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum on Sept .25, 2018, also indicated that since 2004, oil bonds were issued on 17 occasions, totaling an amount of ₹ 1.42 lakh crore. Since then, only six bonds have been repaid. The UPA-2 government repaid the pending amount for bonds maturing in 2009 and 2012. The NDA government repaid two bonds with a total amount of ₹ 3,500 crores (₹ 1,750 crores each) matured in 2015. Therefore, 11 bonds are yet to mature, with a total amount of more than ₹ 1.3 lakh crore. The earliest maturity is in 2021. Therefore, the ₹ 1.3 lakh crore worth of oil bonds issued during the previous UPA government is still indeed due. We mark this claim as true.