Nokia protests India tax raid

Dylan Bushell-Embling
14 Feb 2013
00:00

Nokia has this week formally protested a January raid on its Chennai manufacturing facility as part of an income tax probe.

Nokia called the tax authorities' actions “unacceptable and inconsistent with Indian standards of fair play and governance,” Reutersreported.

Tax officials suspect Nokia could owe as much as 30 billion rupees ($559.2 million) in unpaid taxes related to royalty payments by Nokia's Indian unit to its parent, reports at the time suggested.

But Nokia said it has yet to receive any notification of potential claims arising from the probe, and insists it is fully compliant with all Indian tax laws.

Separately, in the latest development for the reallocation of Indian 2G spectrum freed from the cancellation of 122 2G licenses, a court has ordered affected telcos to cease operating unless they have bid or are bidding for new licenses.

The Supreme Court also ruled that all the remaining spectrum attached to the cancelled licenses be auctioned off in the next round, the Economic Timesreported.

The ruling should allow Sistema Shyam and Telenor's Indian operations to continue providing services until the second round auction, which begins on March 11.

The court had originally ordered operators affected by the license cancellations to cease offering services over the spectrum by the end of June 2012, but then extended the deadline until February 4.

Now any operators still using the spectrum, and which had not taken place in the earlier lackluster auction or are participating in the second-round auction, will have to shut up shop.

An official for India's Department of Telecom told the Economic Times that the ministry will wait until it receives the final court orders before taking any action.

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