The foreign investment regulator cleared a decision on Vodafone Group Plc's $1.6 billion plan to take full ownership of its local unit.
On January 20, the court allowed Vodafone's appeal and had quashed the Bombay High Court verdict which had upheld the decision to levy tax on the overseas deal.
The Finance Ministry is of the opinion that Vodafone might drag its tax dispute to court.
After the enactment of retrospective amendments to the Income Tax Act next month, the government may ask Vodafone to pay in excess of Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) -- more than two and half times the tax amount the telecom major was "advised to withhold" on its $11-billion deal with Hutchison in 2007.
UBS AG's head of operations (India), Manisha Girotra has resigned from the bank to pursue her own business venture. The lender has named Aashish Kamat as the new head of its India business.
Vodafone Group Plc won the Indian cabinet's approval for its $1.6 billion deal to buy out minority partners in its unit in the country, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said on Thursday.
A senior income tax department official in the know of the discussions to have taken place in the finance ministry said the ministry was looking into the issue as a possible option.
Foreign-origin companies may still hold sway over consumer product and electronics companies but, in several areas, be it tractors, liquor or specialised financial products, it is the Indians who are the kings.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia asked the company to file its representation before the IT department.
The government said it has identified a few more cross-border merger and acquisition cases, including Barclays-Intelnet deal, for possible tax evasion after slapping Rs 11,000-crore (Rs 110 billion) tax notice on Vodafone for Hutchison Essar deal.
"Kraft's acquisition of Cadbury is a global acquisition, where some value is attributable to India. This is different from Vodafone, where the transfer of a single share of the offshore company by Hutch resulted in the Indian business getting transferred to Vodafone," said Pranay Bhatia, associate partner at legal firm Economic Laws Practice.
'The promises of netas and babus and new laws, however well-meaning, mean little.' 'What matters is implementation on the ground.' 'Every law is finally implemented by a vast army of offici
Finance ministry officials said they were scrutinising many deals, but the actual tax liability would depend on many factors, including the kind of payment (royalty, interest, stake sale) and the Double Tax Avoidance Agreement with the country where the foreign company was based.
Tax officials are scrutinising other cross-border mergers like the Vodafone-Hutchison deal for possible tax evasion after the Bombay High Court rejected a petition against imposition of tax on the deal, a key Finance Ministry official said.
The Bombay High Court has dismissed Vodafone petition challenging the show cause notice issued by income tax department asking them to pay over $2 billion tax on the multi-crore Hutchinson takeover deal.
Vodafone on Wednesday said it will offload its entire 3.2 per cent shareholding in China Mobile, a divestment that will fetch the British telecom major about 4.3 billion pounds.
UK oil explorer Cairn Energy is facing a tax demand of Rs 10,247 crore and Vodafone over acquisition of 67% stake in the mobile business owned by Hutchison Whampoa in 2007
I-T department has fixed Rs 12,000-crore tax claim on the 2007 deal in which Vodafone bought Hutch's 67 per cent stake in Hutchison Essar for $11.2 billion.
The Department of Telecom, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs and the Department of Economic Affairs had to give their comments on the proposal, sources said.
Vodafone on said it is seeking legal advice to challenge the Bombay High Court order that dismissed its plea against the I-T department's Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion) demand in tax and penalty on the company's acquisition of Hutchison Telecom in a deal of about Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion).
According to The Australian, about 200 employees of Crazy John's will face redundancy as part of its restructuring programme in the first half of 2010, when over 150 jobs will be shifted to Mumbai.
Life wasn't easy for Li Ka-shing, who fled China in 1940.
Pranab Mukherjee's stewardship of the economy will stand out as much for the manner in which he managed controversies as for creating quite a few of them, says A K Bhattacharya.
Based on Statista data for 2019, Vodafone has 17.2 million subscribers in the UK, 29.5 million in Germany, and over 13.7 million in Spain. Without Voda Idea, the Group will become smaller than Airtel and Jio.
The manner in which India has allowed the rule of law to be subverted for over eight years is tragic, notes former additional solicitor general of India Bishwajit Bhattacharyya.
The bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia directed Vodafone to deposit Rs 2,500 crore within three weeks and a bank guarantee of Rs 8,500 crore within 8 weeks.
The department had sent a notice to the company seeking details and clarifications on a host of issues besides the original agreement between Hutch and Vodafone to establish the jurisdiction of the tax authorities to determine the tax liability. This follow an SC order in January 2009 to the effect that Vodafone should present its case to the tax authorities first and submit a copy of the share purchase agreement, the deadline for which expires by the end of this month.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on Monday deferred a decision on Vodafone's Rs 10,141 crore (Rs 101.41 billion) proposal to buy out minority shareholders in its Indian arm as the Ministry of Home Affairs is yet to give its comments.
The dispute between Vodafone and the Ruia-owned Essar Group, its 33 per cent partners in Vodafone-Essar, over ownership of BPL Mobile deepened this week after the UK-based telecom major alleged that Essar had altered the share structure of the Mumbai service provider in violation of a 2006 agreement
The Anil Ambani group company is in advanced talks with France Telecom for a branding, marketing and franchisee agreement. The company plans to launch the brand by the second quarter of FY09, according to sources close to the development. Initially, the Orange may be launched on RCom's CDMA network -- spanning across 23,000 towns and 5 lakh villages in India -- and later extended to its 8 GSM circles. The Indian company has a total of 44.5 million subscribers in India.
Over the weekend, the Bombay high court quietly published a 160-page court order detailing its decision to dismiss a petition by Vodafone of the UK against the Indian tax department.
A landmark tax case between Vodafone of the UK and the Indian government that is set to determine the future climate for mergers and acquisitions in the country began on Monday.
Vodafone, which had earlier challenged the $2-billion tax demand by tax authorities, has now filed a revised draft with the Bombay High Court seeking to challenge the government's move to change tax laws. The petition will come up for hearing before the high court on June 23. The ministry had amended Section 201 of the I-T Act with retrospective effect from 2002. The amended law stipulates that the buyer of the shares of a company is liable to pay taxes in India.
However, Misra added that Vodafone will need to follow this transition up with a highly visible multimedia campaign in the initial two months. "This will instill confidence among consumers that their brand is in the right hands," he said.
As India's largest drugmaker unveiled a deal worth up to $4.6bn to sell control to Daiichi Sankyo of Japan, the disbelief at the press conference was palpable.
Bid to plug loopholes that surfaced in Hutch Essar case.
The total revenues and net profit of the top six Indian telecom players, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, BSNL, Hutchison Essar, MTNL and Idea Cellular, more than doubled during the last two years.
The government on Friday cleared British telecom firm Vodafone's application for buying a majority stake in India's fourth-largest mobile operator Hutch-Essar Ltd.
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