Setting an ambitious target of 100 million cellular subscribers, leading private GSM operator Vodafone-Essar today announced an investment of $6 billion (about Rs 24,000 crore) in the next three years.
The deal is designed to boost efficiency and further enhance customer service and aims to ensure scalable, flexible and resilient IT support for the fast-paced roll out of new network infrastructure to keep up with the rapid growth in Vodafone Essar's customer base.
This is the single largest foreign investment in India so far.
Adjusted gross revenue of the industry has grown just 5.3 per cent during the financial year ended March 31
The company has $2 billion tax dispute with the income tax department.
Vodafone has been recognised as the most admired mobile service brand online in India followed by Tata Indicom and Aircel, a survey said.
A bench headed by Justice H L Dattu, however, allowed the petitioner, former Additional Solicitor General Bishwajit Bhattacharyya, to file fresh petition with all the relevant documents stating what action Centre has so far been taken on the issue.
Vodafone's Kisan Mitra will provide a spectrum of services for India's small farmers, simple mobile service interventions that can increase a farmer's income by Rs 8,000 per year.
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.
The text of the Income tax amendment is so wide and so riddled with ambiguities that it deserves to be scrapped for those reasons alone, says N S Nigam.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has initiated discussions with banks to address financial stress in the telecom sector, particularly Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) that urgently requires fund infusion to stay afloat. There was a meeting of DOT officials and senior bankers on Friday on the issue of Vodafone, sources said, adding that banks have been asked to look for a solution within the prudential guidelines. According to sources, senior officials from the country's biggest lenders State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda were also present among others in the meeting. More such meetings are expected to take place in the coming days, they said.
A finance ministry official said Vodafone had threatened arbitration against something that had not happened. He said the UK-based telecom company was presuming it might happen.
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.
Netcore offers the service 'MyToday' to 3.8 million mobile phone users in the country. Jain was the founder of IndiaWorld Communications, a small start-up, which was acquired in 1999 by IT major Sify Technologies for around Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion).
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his Budget speech on Monday, announced a new dispute resolution mechanism for such companies who are in confrontation with the taxman's action.
With the completion of the acquisition of Hutch Essar earlier this month, British mobile major Vodafone is chalking out strategies to relaunch the rechristened 'Vodafone Essar' brand in India.
UK-based Vodafone is not the only one awaiting the Indian government's call on its purchase of stake in Hutch-Essar, US coffee retail giant Starbucks is also anxiously looking for a decision on the issue.
The UK on Tuesday assured complete government neutrality on Tata Steel's bid to acquire Corus and sought similar treatment for British telecom firm Vodafone in its bid to acquire mobile venture Hutchison-Essar.
Vodafone, which is yet to announce the acquisition, has offered to partner Essar, on which the Indian conglomerate said, "We are at the moment evaluating all our options in the best interest of the Group."
Taking the pole position among other operators, Reliance Jio logged download speed of 19.12 mbps during April, even bettering its own performance of 18.48 mbps demonstrated in the previous month
Former managing director of Vodafone Essar, Asim Ghosh, is in talks with Max India founder and chairman Analjit Singh to sell his 2.39 per cent stake in the mobile phone operator. Ghosh holds the stake in Vodafone Essar indirectly, through various holding companies. Analjit Singh was the original promoter of the company.
While smart boys like the Ruias of Essar, Ajay Piramal, Max India promoter Analjit Singh laughed all the way to the bank, the Tatas, Anil Ambani, Malaysian tycoon T Ananda Krishna of Maxis (which invested in Aircel), Sistema, and Norway's Telenor burnt their fingers, notes Surajeet Das Gupta.
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
State Bank of India has agreed to lend Vodafone-Essar, the joint venture between United Kingdom's Vodafone and Essar, Rs 10,000 crore to finance the company's entry into 3G (third generation) telecom services and expansion of its broadband operations.
This fresh case pertains to the tax assessment done by the I-T department for the year 2009-10.
British giant Vodafone and Indian conglomerate Essar group reached an agreement on Thursday for jointly running India's fourth largest mobile firm -- Hutch-Essar, which would be rechristened Vodafone Essar.
Sarin said Hutchison obviously had its own compulsions of not being able to continue in India.
UK telecom giant Vodafone has offloaded its 5.6 per cent direct stake in India's mobile leader Bharti Airtel to promoter Sunil Mittal's group for $1.6 billion, coinciding its acquisition of controlling stake in Hutch-Essar.
India's income tax department today said it would scrutinise more than a dozen cases of offshore mergers and acquisitions in which the deal results in an ultimate change of ownership of Indian firms. The latest move by the tax department comes in the background of a favourable ruling from the Bombay High Court yesterday in a case filed by Vodafone International Holding BV.
In its letter Voda Idea has warned that it is not in a sound financial state, and added that it would be in a position to meet its liabilities only if the government initiates steps including allowing set-offs for GST credit accumulated so far, and permitting staggered mechanism for payment of balance amount of interest, penalty, and interest on penalty.
IndusInd Bank, Suzlon, and Paytm will remain under focus, as the stocks are pegged to get added to the MSCI global standard index. These stocks, along with six others, are seen attracting cumulative inflows of nearly $2 billion from passive funds tracking MSCI indices. Persistent Systems, APL Apollo, Polycab, Macrotech Developers, Tata Motors DVR, and Tata Communication are the other six stocks that will be added to the MSCI index, shows an analysis done by Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research.
'We have informed the government multiple times that the situation in the US and India are different.' 'Here, there will be a 500 MHz gap in the frequencies which will safely allow aviation without interference.'
A report in The Observer on Sunday said the bidding war for telecom firm Hutchison Essar will erupt again, with Britain's Vodafone preparing to table a fresh offer that would value the target at up to 19 billion dollars.
The order in favour of Vodafone is being considered significant because some domestic companies too are involved in similar transfer pricing cases.
MphasiS, which recently came under the EDS fold, will be executing $250 million worth of application development and maintenance work for Vodafone over five years.
The next spectrum auction will be held in late February 2024 and the reserve price for most bands will remain the same as the 2022 auction, department of telecommunications (DoT) officials have said. The government expects operators to go for low bands beginning in 600 megahertz (MHz), licences for many of which are lapsing soon. Back in September 2021, the government had decided that spectrum auctions should be held annually.
The development marks a watershed moment in India's telecom history since fixed-line or landline connections formed the final segment where a State-owned operator was in the top spot.
As per TRAI norms, Vodafone and Airtel are close to getting added spectrums, given their growing subscriber rates.
With their net debt estimated at Rs 1.15 trillion, the merged entity will not be in much of a position to dole out freebies, says Romita Majumdar.
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