Vodafone tax case: India files application in Singapore High Court against arbitration panel verdict

New Delhi: India has challenged in the Singapore High Court an international arbitration tribunal’s verdict that overturned its demand for Rs 22,100 crore in back taxes from Vodafone Group Plc, and the order passed in Cairn Group’s case is under consideration of the government, Parliament was informed on Monday. An international arbitration court had in September last year rejected tax authorities’ demand for Rs 22,100 crore in back taxes and penalties relating to British telecom giant Vodafone’s 2007 acquisition of an Indian operator.

The demand pertained to Vodafone’s USD 11-billion acquisition of 67 per cent stake in the mobile phone business owned by Hutchison Whampoa.

In December last year, an arbitration tribunal in Hague unanimously overturned a Rs 10,247 crore retrospective tax demand on British oil and gas company Cairn Energy Plc and asked the government to return shares it sold, dividend it seized and tax refunds it stopped to enforce the tax.