British telecom giant Vodafone Group plc on Friday won an arbitration against the Indian government over a demand for Rs 22,100 crore in taxes using retrospective legislation.
The IT department had issued a tax assessment order in December 2011 asking Vodafone to add Rs 8,500 crore (Rs 85 billion) to its taxable income, thus raising the tax liability of the company.
Vodafone, according to sources, in its response to the Finance Ministry's offer for conciliation, had expressed keenness to settle the long-pending capital gains tax dispute.
The two parties -- the Centre and Vodafone -- have sought a few more weeks to decide on the matter.
VIL pegs dues at Rs 21,533 cr, less than half of DoT estimate. During a meeting with Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad made it clear that the government is against a monopoly in the telecom sector, and wants Vodafone Idea to survive and remain invested in India.
Finance secretary R S Gujral too is believed to have met top Vodafone officials in Mumbai last month.
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's operating loss from India business jumped to 692 million euros in April-September from 133 million euros in the same period last year.
A day after Arvind Kejriwal put his name on a list of corrupt politicians, Union minister Kapil Sibal on Saturday shot back, saying that the Delhi chief minister should prove his allegations within two days or resign.
In a breakthrough, scientists in the UK have achieved the "fastest ever" broadband speeds of 1.4 terabits per second - enough to transmit 44 high-definition movies at once.
Country accounts for 38% of telco's global user base, 10% of total revenue
Delhi High Court quashes reassessment proceedings by Income Tax department.
The investment was committed to by Vittorio Colao, CEO of Vodafone Group Plc.
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.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd has bought Britain's iconic country club and luxury golf resort, Stoke Park, for 57 million pounds (about Rs 592 crore). The acquisition adds to Reliance's current stake in Oberoi hotels and hotel/managed residences in Mumbai that it's developing. Over the past four years, Reliance has announced $3.3 billion in acquisitions with 14 per cent in retail, 80 per cent in technology, media, and telecom (TMT) sector, and 6 per cent in energy. The UK-based firm, which owns a hotel and golf course in Buckinghamshire, UK, will add to Reliance's consumer and hospitality assets, the firm said in a filing late on Thursday.
US-based technology major IBM is contesting a claim of the revenue department which has increased the company's taxable income substantially to around Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion).
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who landed in Ahmedabad on Thursday morning on a two-day India visit, was accorded a grand welcome at the airport in Ahmedabad. Soon after, he visited Sabarmati Ashram in the company of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupesh Patel.
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In the process, Vodafone India's valuation rose 48.39 per cent since February 2012, when Piramal Enterprises bought 5.5 per cent stake in Vodafone India for Rs 3,007 crore (Rs 30.07 billion).
This equity capital infusion is the country's largest-ever FDI.
Now sole contender as L&T Infotech quits race
Likely to seek FIPB approval to raise holding; deal could bring FDI of about $696 mn.
Representatives of the British telecom company on Friday met senior finance ministry officials, in search of an amicable solution.
The retrospective tax controversy was highlighted by Vodafone, but Cairn Plc's continuing problems point to the impact this law has had on FDI in India's oil and gas sector.
The government has signed Bippas with 72 nations.
The revamped stretch of the rechristened Kartavya Path -- from the Raisina Hill complex to the India Gate -- and the verdant lawns surrounding them were thrown open to the public on Friday after two years.
This fresh case pertains to the tax assessment done by the I-T department for the year 2009-10.
While it was technically not possible to block the deal, the tax department could resort to arm-twisting.
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
Bharti Global and UK government-led OneWeb on Friday announced the launch of 36 communications satellites and said it aims to offer high-speed internet from its constellation of satellites in India by mid-2022. The recommencement of satellite launches by OneWeb comes within weeks of billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal-run Bharti Group along with the British government taking over as the new owners of the broadband satellite communications company, which emerged from bankruptcy. The Low Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband satellite communications company on Friday launched the 36 satellites from a Soyuz launch vehicle, which began from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, in Russia.
The dispute over the tax payable for its purchase in 2007 of the 67 per cent stake in Hutch is on an amount of Rs 11,200 crore (Rs 112 billion).
The Guardian reported that accounts filed in Dublin showed that in 2009 Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs settled a dispute with the British telecoms provider over its Irish tax returns.
The Supreme Court had ruled in Vodafone's favour in 2012.
A court ruled in favour of Vodafone on Friday in a long-running dispute with the Indian taxman, a boost for the British telecom group whose tax battles have been seen as emblematic of the troubles facing foreign investors in India.
After taking over scam-hit Satyam, Techn Mahindra has made many structural changes in the latter to turn it around.
Besides Vodafone, several other major MNCs like Nokia and Shell were locked in tax dispute with the revenue department.
An Indian telecommunications firm is among six companies fined a record Rs 3.6 crore (Rs 36 million) after they were held responsible for a series of telephone and text message frauds in the United Kingdom.
'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
While Indian telecom czar Sunil Mittal's Bharti did not share deal details, UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma said his government and Bharti Global, will provide $500 million each.
Cairn Energy and Air India have jointly asked a New York federal court to stay further proceedings in the British firm's US lawsuit targeting the airline for enforcement of a $1.2-billion arbitral award. The move follows the government enacting a law to scrap retrospective taxation in the country, which in effect will result in withdrawal of the Rs 10,247 crore tax demand on Cairn, according to court documents reviewed by PTI. The British company had won an international arbitration award against levy of such taxes and sought to take over Air India assets when the government refused to honour the award and pay it $1.2 billion-plus interest and penalty.
'The announcement has come too late. This should have been done years ago.'
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