The Delhi high court had reserved its judgement on 8 March after hearing the arguments put forth by the centre, Vodafone Group Plc and an amicus curie. Photo: BloombergNew Delhi: Delhi high court is set to pronounce its verdict on 7 May on the centre-Vodafone Group Plc arbitration row over a retrospective tax liability imposed on the telco for its $11 billion acquisition of Hutchinson Telecom. After the tax liability of over Rs22,000 crore was imposed in 2012, Vodafone had invoked arbitration under the India-Netherlands Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA) through a notice of dispute of 17 April 2012 and notice of arbitration of 17 April 2014. whether the amendment to the Income Tax Act which imposed a retrospective multi-crore liability on Vodafone in relation to its $11 billion deal in 2007 acquiring the stake in Hutchinson Telecom was in consonance with the BIPAs. This stay was revoked by the Supreme Court on 15 December 2017 when it allowed Vodafone to appoint an arbitrator in the second arbitration but added that the proceedings would not start until completion of hearings in the case before the Delhi high court.

Source: Mint May 06, 2018 15:56 UTC