Vodafone Not Liable for $4.4bn in India Back Taxes

Mady
January 20, 2012 01:45 AM

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India's highest court has ruled that Vodafone is not liable for taxes and penalties amounting to $4.4bn (£2.8bn).

Vodafone is the world's largest mobile operator by subscribers

The judgement could relieve pressure on other foreign companies facing similar tax investigations in India.

The case centred on Vodafone's $11bn acquisition of the Indian assets of China's Hutchison Telecommunications in 2007.

Vodafone said it did not owe tax on the deal, as the assets were held by a firm based in the Cayman Islands.

"This settles a prolonged litigation which had created a lot of uncertainty for multinationals," said Sandeep Ladda, executive director at PricewaterhouseCoopers in India.

GE, SAB Miller, Cadbury, AT&T, Sanofi, and Vedanta are among the companies which could be affected.