"We were planning to have the road shows for the 48 blocks in November itself, but the delay in getting a clearance from the finance ministry and the Parliament session this month end would force us to go for the road shows during the mid January," minister of state for petroleum Santosh Kumar Gangwar told PTI in an interview.

The petroleum ministry is awaiting a clearance from the finance ministry for the petroleum tax code (PTC) for the 48 blocks to be notified for bidding under the Nelp, he said.

Some of the provisions of the PTC required amendments in the Income-Tax Act and these were incorporated by the finance ministry in the Finance Bill which was passed in July this year, ministry sources said.

The final approval of the tax code from the revenue department is awaited while there hasalready been a delay of over one month, ministry sources said.

"We plan to have road shows in Houston, London, Singapore and Perth. We cannot go for the road shows during the next month as it would be the holiday season in these countries due to Christmas vacations," he said.