Sarin meets FM, says court to decide tax issue

Arun Sarin, chief executive officer, Vodafone, met Finance Minister P Chidambaram today.

When asked whether the tax issue involving the Hutch acquisition was discussed, he said that the case is in court, and let the court decide the issue.

The Income Tax department had sent a notice to Vodafone seeking around $1.7 billion in capital gains tax related to the sale of Hutchison Telecom International's majority stake in Hutch-Essar now renamed Vodafone-Essar.

The company, however, has contested the notice and approached the Bombay High Court. During his last visit, Sarin had said the company was not liable to pay tax.

Sarin today said Vodafone has established a foundation in India with an investment of $10 million to strengthen its presence in the country. "The foundation would initially focus on projects associated with providing education to youths across the country, enabling the development of higher skill sets," he added.

The aim of Vodafone India Foundation would be to contribute to the society by providing direct grants to locally registered charities and global NGOs with social investment aims and objectives, a company release said. Sarin would be the first chairman of the foundation.

Meanwhile, Vodafone today announced plans to cover all 39,000 villages of West Bengal within a year. It has already covered 30,000 villages of the state, and the remaining 9,000 villages would be covered in the next one year.

The company also announced a series of new initiatives to push the subscriber base during Puja in the eastern region of the country.