In 2016, Vodafone had approached the court over a dispute that stems from a retroactive tax claim for using airwaves and in license fees.
On Friday, telecom giant Vodafone said it had won a significant ruling against the Indian government in an international court in Singapore over ₹ 12,000 crore in interest and ₹ 7,900 crore in penalties, NDTV reported.
In 2016, Vodafone had approached the court over a dispute that stems from a retroactive tax claim for using airwaves and in license fees.
The company sources told news agency Reuters that the tribunal ruled that the Indian government’s imposition of tax liability on Vodafone is in breach of the investment treaty agreement between India and the Netherlands.
Though the company’s long term problems are not over, the heavily indebted telecoms firm had won some reprieve earlier this month as the Supreme Court gave mobile carriers 10 years to settle the government dues.
The Department of Telecom has to be paid by India’s telecom providers nearly 3-5 per cent of their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) in usage charges for airwaves and 8 per cent of AGR as licence fees. After the providers disputing over the definition of AGR for a long, last year the Supreme Court upheld the government’s view that the AGR should include all revenue.
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