Indian Supreme Court overturns tax decision, Vodafone rises

Shares in UK telecommunications group Vodafone rose in early trading on Friday on reports that the Indian Supreme Court has overturned an earlier tax-ruling against it from a lower court.The long-running battle centres around a $2.5bn (£1.3bn) tax bill relating to its 67% interest in Vodafone Essar, the Indian mobile unit of Hutchison Whampoa in which Vodafone invested over $11bn in 2007.According to various news agencies, the Indian tax office originally claimed that Vodafone failed to pay capital gains tax at the time of the acquisition. Vodafone's argument was that the transaction was made between two non-Indian companies (itself and Hong Kong's Hutchison) overseas.The British telecommunications carrier later confirmed those reports, at 8:35am, indicating that, "(Vodafone) has received the judgment of the Indian Supreme Court. The Court has concluded that Vodafone had no liability to account for withholding tax on its acquisition of interests in Hutchison Essar Limited (now Vodafone India Limited) in 2007."As of 10:26am shares of Vodafone are the fifth largest risers on the top share index. They are trading up by 1.7% to the 177.45p mark.