MUMBAI, Jan 28 (Reuters) - India will not appeal a regionalcourt ruling in favour of Vodafone Group Plc in along-running tax dispute, the federal cabinet decided onWednesday, in a move aimed at boosting investor confidence inAsia's third-largest economy.
Vodafone, the biggest foreign corporate investor in India,has been involved in a series of tax disputes since it enteredthe country seven years ago.
In one such case, India's tax office had accused a unit ofthe British group of under-pricing shares in a rights issue toits parent company and demanded tax of about 30 billion rupees($489 million).
The Bombay High Court had in October ruled in favour ofVodafone, and later the attorney general had recommended thegovernment to refrain from appealing that ruling at the SupremeCourt. [
"Investors' confidence has been shaken in the past becauseof the very fluctuating tax policy," telecommunications ministerRavi Shankar Prasad told a news conference after a cabinetmeeting.
"The government, led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi,wants to convey a clear message to investors world over thatthis is a government where the decisions will be fair,transparent and within the four corners of the law."
($1 = 61.3430 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Aman Shah and Devidutta Tripathy, editing byLouise Heavens)