Vodafone Idea Shares Trade Lower Despite Relief From Income Tax Refund Order

Vodafone Idea shares fell despite the relief after the Supreme Court upheld an order for the Income Tax Department to refund Rs 1,128 crore to the company, along with interest. The court dismissed the tax department’s appeal against the High Court order on the ground of delay.

“There is a gross delay of 295 days in filing the special leave petition that has not been satisfactorily explained,” the court said. The total amount that the tax department has to refund the telco stands at about Rs 1,600 crore, including interest.

The case pertains to Vodafone Idea's claim for a refund of around Rs 1,128 crore for the accounting year 2016-17. Vodafone Idea’s case was selected for scrutiny by the tax department to determine the arm’s length price with respect to certain transactions. This action was in a move to ascertain whether the claimed refund is proper or not.

Vodafone Idea stock rose as much as 0.60% during the day to Rs 10 apiece on the NSE. However, it was trading 2.82% lower at Rs 9.66 apiece, compared to an 0.27% advance in the benchmark Nifty 50 as of 9:21 a.m.

It has down 33.06% in the last 12 months. The total traded volume so far in the day stood at 3.8 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 77.53.

Four out of the 22 analysts tracking the company have a 'buy' rating on the stock, six recommend a 'hold' and 12 suggest a 'sell', according to Bloomberg data. The 12-month analysts' consensus target price on the stock is Rs 8.33, implying a downside of 16.2%