The government's proposed retrospective changes in the Finance Bill have been drawing a lot of criticism from India and abroad, but one case that has caught everyone's attention is the Vodafone case.
Here's a brief timeline of the case:
2007: Vodafone buys Hutchison's India assets for $11 billion. It soon gets a notice from the tax department on why it had not deducted tax at source.
2007: The Bombay High Court rules that the I-T department has jurisdiction over a part of the transaction. Following this, Vodafone moves the Supreme Court.
January 2012: The Supreme Court rules in favour of Vodafone, and says the I-T department can't levy tax on the deal.
March: The government brings in retrospective amendments in the Union Budget. These changes allow it to tax the Vodaone-type deals.
March: The Vodafone chief executive writes to the Prime Minister opposing the proposed changes. International bodies also mount pressure.
April: George Osborne, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, raises the issue with the finance minister.
April 16: Vodafone issues a notice to the Indian government, initiating arbitration proceedings for failure to protect investor rights. The company invokes the bilateral trade treaty between India and the Netherlands for this purpose.
April 20: US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner raises the issue with the finance minister during his US trip. Soon after, finance secretary R.S. Gujral says Vodafone knew about the tax liability.
April 24: Vodafone denies Gujral's statement, says it had no clue.
April 26: Vodafone India's non-executive chairman Analjit Singh meets Gujral.
May 1: Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao meets the finance minister
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