The Parliament was informed on Monday that India has challenged the international arbitration tribunal’s verdict in the Vodafone tax case in the Singapore High Court.
“An application has been filed in the High Court of Singapore to set aside the award dated 25.09.2020 in the case of Vodafone International Holdings BV. In the case of the Cairn group the matter is under consideration of the government,” Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur said in the Lok Sabha while answering a question.
Earlier the arbitration tribunal constituted under the agreement between UK and India for Promotion and Protection of Investments And the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) has ruled in favor of Cairn group (Cairn Energy Plc and Cairn UK Holdings Limited) vide its order dated December 21, 2020. In September last year, it had rejected the Indian 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 deal in question is Vodafone’s USD 11-billion acquisition of 67 per cent stake in the mobile phone business owned by Hutchison Whampoa. The government had given authority to tax authorities the power to reopen past cases, to seek taxes from Vodafone and Cairn over alleged capital gains made using a 2012 law.
Support our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan AdFree. We welcome your comments at info@taxscan.in
