Vodafone's acquisition of Hutchison Essar is not liable to Indian taxation, a court has ruled, as the 2007 transaction took place outside the sub-continent - despite Essar being based there.

Vodafone and Hutchison successfully argued at the Indian Supreme Court that as neither company is headquartered in India they don't have to stump up for local capital-gains tax, which could have hit £3bn once all the various penalties for late payment were included.

So now the Indian government will have to pay back the bonds and guarantees amounting to several hundred million quid which Vodafone was forced to hand over during the four years the case rumbled on.

The Indian tax office reckoned Vodafone should have handed over £1.4bn in capital gains tax before the deal was allowed to go through in 2007, and won a couple of rounds at court before the matter reached the Supreme Court whose ruling is final...Read more