New Delhi: Vodafone has served a fresh arbitration notice to India over the Rs 20,000 crore tax dispute, a development that has prompted the Indian government to seek withdrawal of its conciliation offer to settle the row amicably.
The finance ministry, according to officials, has already obtained the opinion of the law ministry and has drafted a Cabinet note for withdrawing the non-binding conciliation offer it had made to Vodafone in June 2013.
In its notice on April 17, Vodafone said it will go ahead with international arbitration, preferably in London, to resolve the long-pending tax dispute concerning its 2007 acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa’s stake in Hutchison Essar.
It has given two months time for a response, which may mean the new government will have to take a call on the demand for arbitration.
“Since Vodafone and the Indian government have been unable to find an amicable means of resolving the dispute, Vodafone has commenced an international investment arbitration as a way to achieve resolution,” it said in a statement.
Vodafone International Holdings BV has commenced arbitration under the bilateral investment treaty between India and the Netherlands.
