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.
While a group of officials believed a case against the two telecom companies was made out as they were only beneficiaries of the laid down policy, another team of officials involved in decision-making differed, official sources said on Monday.
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.
In his complaint, Delhi resident Rajender Yadav had alleged unfair trade practice by Vodafone for deducting Rs 50 from his account towards activating 'hello' tune service on his number without his consent.
Vodafone India MD & CEO Marten Pieters, 59, blames regulation and the spectrum policy for the telecom industry's troubles.
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.
GSM operators on Monday stepped up pressure against the regulator's 2G recommendations, with Idea Cellular writing to the DoT and officials of Vodafone Essar calling on TRAI chief J S Sarma to convey their objections to the spectrum proposals.
Officials in the know indicate the Central Board of Direct Taxes might come out with a notification in due course, saying that cases that have reached finality would not be touched.
A presentation by the CBI to a Joint Parliamentary Committee last week said the decision led to a loss of Rs 508 crore to the exchequer.
Vodafone, which is led by India-origin CEO Arun Sarin, plans to hire 330 retail staff for its stores to sell "data services such as music products and mobile broadband". "A further 130 people will be taken on in sales roles in its enterprise business and 30 in its online sales and customer service division," the report stated.
A senior official of the department said the papers were prepared after serious deliberations, and the I-T department's admission on these measures at this juncture could be significant pointers to achieving the direct tax collection target for 2012-13.
Vodafone-Essar, the leading GSM operator is raising around $500 million (Rs 2,000 crore) through overseas borrowing. This is the first fund raising by the telecom major after British telecom major Vodafone acquired a majority stake.
Vodafone, which has equity interests in 25 countries besides India where it bought controlling stake in Hutchison Essar early this year, said its capital expenditure on fixed assets this fiscal would be around 4.7-5.1 billion.
The British telecom major on Tuesday moved the dispute resolution panel, seeking relief from an order sent by the I-T department in December.
Vodafone India said on Friday it would launch fourth-generation (4G) mobile phone services in the country by the end of the year.
4G services typically make it much faster than 3G services to surf the web on mobile phones, tablets and laptops.
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.
Britain's Vodafone, which acquired controlling stake in mobile firm Hutch-Essar, on Tuesday said it will transfer its 5.6 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel back to the Indian mobile leader by November next year.
Even after investing almost Rs 6,000 crore, Ajay Piramal, chairman of the company, insists it is a short-term investment.
As Vodafone started examining the books of Hutchison Essar, its existing partner Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it has not been approached by anyone to buyout British telecom firm's stake in the company.
A bench headed by Justice S B Sinha refused to hear the Vodafone plea that had challenged the Bombay high court judgment, which on December 3 last year had dismissed a petition by Vodafone International Holdings BV, contesting a showcause notice by the I-T department. Vodafone, Netherlands-based company, had bought a 67 per cent stake in Hutchison Essar from Hutchison Telecom International in February 2007 for $11.2 billion.
Sarin said Hutchison obviously had its own compulsions of not being able to continue in India.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board will take up on March 20, the proposal of UK mobile giant Vodafone to acquire 52 per cent direct stake in Hutchison-Essar from Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecom based on an enterprise value of $18.8 billion.
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.
Fierce competition and rising capex will put pressure on most operators in 2017.
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.
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.
The price offered is about a quarter of the value set by the govt in an auction that was scheduled for March 2013 but never took place.
Mobile phone giant Vodafone cut short a four-year shirt sponsorship deal with Manchester United on Wednesday and switched its allegiance to European's premier club competition, the Champions League.
Today is the last date for submitting the applications and companies have the option to withdraw them by January 27.
There have been several positive signals in Bharti Airtel with revenue market share (RMS) growth, better visibility of profits from Africa, and enough free cash flow to pursue deleveraging. Airtel's 4G and 5G data subscriber net additions were 5.6 million in Q1FY24, and 24.5 million in the last 12 months. Airtel currently has 230 million data subscribers on 4G/5G, which is about 70 per cent penetration of its base of 339 million subscribers.
The second largest telecom operator said auction would avoid possible legal disputes and pave the way for licence extensions.
Apple's iPhone, the touch screen handset that acquired a cult status in the United States and other Western countries, will be available to Indian mobile users through private telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar from August 22, giving competitors like Nokia, Samsung and others a run for their money.
The order in favour of Vodafone is being considered significant because some domestic companies too are involved in similar transfer pricing cases.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher, referring to a Supreme Court order on a plea of Bharti Cellular Ltd in a similar case, asked the Department of Telecommunications not to take any coercive steps in pursuance of its notices issued to the telecom companies asking them to stop providing 3G services to mobile users in the circles for which they lacked licences.
Vodafone appointed to its board on Thursday a former group managing director at HTIL's parent company Hutchison Whampoa.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has expressed dissatisfaction with the replies given by Hutchison Essar, its Hong Kong-based parent Hutchison Telecom International
As per TRAI norms, Vodafone and Airtel are close to getting added spectrums, given their growing subscriber rates.
The Ruias of the Essar Group will now be getting around $750 million (about Rs 3,493 crore) more from their telecom joint venture partner, Vodafone Group, over and above the fair market price if they exercise the "put" option for their 33.02 per cent stake.
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