Workshop on Legal and Taxation Aspects of the EPC Contracts
INTRODUCTION
In an emerging nation such as India, Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) projects play a pivotal role in the development and progress of the economy. With the growing impetus and focus on infrastructure development and urbanisation, EPC projects have assumed greater significance.
This is evident from the fact that the Government has planned to invest INR 56.3 trillion in the infrastructure sector, during the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17), of which, approximately 50% of the investments ought to be contributed by the private sector. The Government has also taken the initiative of introducing the Infrastructure Investment Trust Scheme to aid financing and attract foreign capital in the infrastructure sector, besides offering tax sops to such Trusts.
EPC contracts have witnessed increased popularity owing to the fact that the project owner is relieved of the responsibility of general management of the project as well as the related risks therein. Moreover, the EPC model does enjoy preference owing to various advantages in terms of predictability, timeliness and clearly defined roles and responsibilities. With the advent of technology, this industry has also seen a tremendous rise in cross border technical collaboration, with more foreign players participating in such EPC contracts.
Nevertheless, various legal considerations do arise during the execution of an EPC contract, especially from a direct tax and indirect tax perspective. The objective of this workshop is to familiarise participants with the aforesaid aspects.
