Cairn Energy Plc executives have sought details of refund from the Indian government after a meeting with finance ministry officials over the retrospective tax dispute.

The meeting was held on Wednesday in the backdrop of a bill passed in Lok Sabha to scrap the controversial tax law introduced in 2012.

Executives from the UK-based energy firm sought clarification from the government on how it plans to settle the retrospective tax dispute, reported The Economic Times. Cairn Energy reportedly asked when and how the refund will be processed if the company accepts the settlement terms.

Cairn Energy Executives indicated that the company may withdraw legal proceedings if it gets assurance of a quick and smooth refund of the due amount, according to sources quoted in the ET report.

It may be noted that the government had collected nearly Rs 7,880 crore from Cairn Energy under the retrospective tax rule. After scrapping the law, the government said it will refund the total dues owed to Cairn Energy.

However, discussions are likely to continue before Cairn Energy and the government agree on the settlement process.

While Cairn has not rejected the refund proposal, executives from the company have sought further details including how quickly the government can initiate and complete the refund procedure.

A government official has also confirmed that preliminary discussions have been held with the company. As per the ET report, Cairn executives will meet finance ministry officials again this week to continue discussions about the refund process.

Cairn Energy had earlier secured an arbitration award worth $1.2 billion after it challenged the Indian government at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague last year.

The international court had ordered the Indian government to pay $1.2 billion in damages plus interests. The company said the total penalty amounted to $1.7 billion. India had appealed against the award.

However, the country has now scrapped the controversial tax law that was at the heart of the dispute. The decision to scrap the retrospective taxation law came soon after Cairn Energy started moving courts across the world to seize Indian government-owned assets. It had even seized some government assets in Paris after getting approval from a French court.

The scrapping of the controversial law will help the government save a huge amount of money as it only has to pay the original amount it had collected as retrospective tax from Cairn Energy.

In case of a settlement, the government would only have to refund nearly Rs 7,880 crore to Cairn Energy. The government would not have to pay any interest to the company as part of the settlement.