Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf of the International Court of Justice is appointed as the 3rd arbitrator in Voda tax row.
AG is of the view that there is no point in dragging the matter further when it has already been "struck down" by one international forum, and also by the top Indian court.
The company will spend Rs 10,141 crore to buy 15.5 per cent stake from minority investors.
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Faced with over Rs 11,200 crore (Rs 112 billion) tax liability, Vodafone India chief Analjit Singh on Thursday met Finance Minister P Chidambaram for the second time this week and expressed the hope that there will be clarity soon on the proposal to settle the dispute through conciliation.
The government, however, amended the tax laws with retrospective effect to undo the Supreme Court judgement and claim taxes.
India is believed to have challenged in a court in The Hague an arbitration tribunal verdict that overturned its demand for Rs 10,247 crore in back taxes from Cairn Energy Plc -- the second time in three months that it has refused to accept an international award against retrospective tax.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram has asked UK-based Vodafone Group, which is facing a tax liability of over Rs 11,200 crore in India, to give its view on the long-pending matter in writing, a senior official said.
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).
To decide whether capital gains on surrender of call options are taxable
The British telecom major has disputed the tax demand over its acquisition of 67 per cent stake in Hutchison, now called Vodafone India, arguing that no tax was due as the transaction was conducted offshore.
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.
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.
'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
The government may be waiting for the outcome of an arbitration initiated against its levy of Rs 10,247 crore retrospective tax on UK's Cairn Energy Plc before deciding on appealing against losing a tax case against Vodafone Group, sources said. An international arbitral tribunal is expected to give a decree within next few days on Cairn Energy Plc's challenge to the Indian government seeking Rs 10,247 crore in retrospective taxes. If the arbitration award in the Cairn cases goes against India, the government has to pay the British firm over Rs 7,600 crore to reverse the dividend and tax refund it had ceased and shares it sold to recover part of the tax demand.
The Finance Ministry has already circulated a draft Cabinet note withdrawing the conciliation offer to Vodafone to resolve the Rs 20,000-crore (Rs 200-billion) tax dispute case.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Vodafone pleaded in High Court that IT department had no jurisdiction in the transfer pricing case because the said transaction was not international and did not attract tax.
The Finance Ministry is of the opinion that Vodafone might drag its tax dispute to court.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday stayed a new income tax demand of Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) on Vodafone India Services in an alleged transfer-pricing case from 2010-11.
Besides Vodafone, several other major MNCs like Nokia and Shell were locked in tax dispute with the revenue department.
CBDT circular issued last month had raised multiple taxation concerns.
The exploration and production assets of Essar Oil will not be part of the Rosneft deal and would continue to remain with the Group.
Sachin Bansal, who had co-founded Flipkart with Binny Bansal in 2007, would exit the company
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.
Country accounts for 38% of telco's global user base, 10% of total revenue
Vodafone's long-pending tax dispute with the government might be heading for a resolution, with the finance ministry considering changing the Income-Tax Act's retrospective amendment and taxing indirect transfer of assets prospectively from 2012, the year the law was clarified.
Over the years, Mr Singh has got in and out of innumerable businesses, cutting across sectors. He is one businessman who I have always found to be in a start-up mode, says Bhupesh Bhandari.
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