New Delhi, September 27
The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre and the Income Tax Department on Vodafone’s plea against imposition of capital-gains tax of Rs 12,000 crore in its $11-billion acquisition deal with Hutch in 2007. A three-member Bench, headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia, also asked the assessing officer of the I-T department to decide the company’s liability within four weeks, on the basis of a Bombay High Court order.

The Bench, which included Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar, said the apex court would stay the HC order only if the telecom major was willing to pay part of the tax amount.

Vodafone had appealed against the September 8 verdict of the Bombay High Court, which ruled that authorities in India have jurisdiction to seek taxes from Vodafone International Holdings BV on its 2007 purchase of Hutchison’s Indian wireless operations.

Appearing for the Centre, Attorney General GE Vahanvati said the government was agreeable to a stay if the company could pay 50 per cent. Posting the next hearing for October 25, the apex court gave liberty to the company, represented by senior counsel Harish Salve, to approach it in the meanwhile for any other appropriate remedy.

Salve contended that all the shares of Hutch were held by a Mauritius company. This had the approval of the Indian government. Hence, there was no question of paying capital gains tax here. The attorney general, however, said the HC had rejected the ‘controlling interest’ theory. The I-T department has maintained that Vodafone should have deducted tax at source on capital gains from the Hutchison acquisition and paid it to the government.

"We firmly believe that this transaction is not subject to tax in India. Furthermore, as Vodafone is the acquiring company, we have clearly not made any capital gain on the sale. We will continue to take whatever actions necessary to defend Vodafone’s position as the matter proceeds," Vodafone said in a statement.

The Bombay High Court, earlier this month, dismissed Vodafone's petition, but said Indian tax authorities would not issue a final order for the next eight weeks.

"We are pleased that the Supreme Court has decided to hear Vodafone’s appeal against the recent Bombay High Court verdict on the issue of jurisdiction,” the statement added.

New Delhi, September 27
Kuwait is keen on buying a stake in Indian Oil Corp (IOC) if the government decides to sell its shareholding through strategic divestment, Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Abdullah al-Sabah has said.

“If the government divests some stake through strategic sale, we are very interested in such proposal," he said after a luncheon meeting with the IOC management.

The government plans to sell its 10 per cent stake in IOC this fiscal through a public offering, a route that is of little interest to Kuwait. "It has to be strategic sale," he said when asked if Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC), of which he is the Chairman, or Kuwait Investment Authority would been keen on buying IOC shares in the public offering.

A stake in IOC would give the company a foothold in the nation's largest refining and marketing company. The visiting Kuwaiti Minister discussed KPC's participation in IOC's upcoming Rs 29,777-crore refinery and petrochemical complex at Paradip, in Orissa. Al-Sabah, however, did not look very keen on the proposal, as KPC had "requests (for participation) lot of refinery projects... It (KPC's participation) will depend on economics (of the project)."

This, along with downstream investment opportunities in petrochemical projects, such as the olefin project of ONGC Petro Additions Ltd, the aromatics project of ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd (OMPL) and IOC's Paradip petrochemicals project, would be discussed threadbare when he meets Oil Minister Murli Deora. — PTI

London, September 27
Consumer goods major Unilever today said it will acquire the US-based Alberto Culver Company for $3.7 billion in an all-cash deal, a move that would help in strengthening its global position in both hair care and skin care categories.

"We are delighted to be acquiring Alberto Culver. Their people have done an excellent job of building an impressive range of brands such as TRESemme, VO5, Nexxus, St Ives and Simple," Unilever CEO Paul Polman said.

The acquisition would boost Unilever's existing brand portfolio which includes brands like Dove, Clear and Sunsilk in hair care and Pond's and Vaseline in skin care.

"The acquisition makes Unilever the world's leading company in hair conditioning, the second largest in shampoo and the third largest in styling, and significantly enhances its hair care presence in the US, Canada, the UK, Mexico and Australasia, all of which will be significant hair care markets for years to come," Unilever said.

Commenting on the acquisition, Polman further said "Personal Care is a strategic category for Unilever and growing rapidly. Ten years ago it represented 20 per cent of our turnover; strong organic growth has driven it to now reach over 30 per cent, with strong positions in many of the emerging markets." Alberto Culver has operations in nine countries, including the US, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, the UK, South Africa and Australasia. It has six manufacturing facilities and employs around 2,700 people.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory nod, approval of the Alberto Culver shareholders and other customary closing conditions. For the year ending June 30, 2010, Alberto Culver had sales to the tune of $1.6 billion. — PTI

Chandigarh, September 27
Jivo Wellness, the pioneer in introducing canola oil for edible use in the domestic market, will invest Rs 40 crore to set up three new bottling plants over two years. The company also plans to promote contract farming of canola across North India.

The plants will be set up at Viruddhnagar (Madurai), Mumbai and Sangrur. By increasing its canola oil production by two million litres per month in these plants, the company targets a turnover of Rs 100 crore by 2012- 13. It is aiming for 10 per cent market share in the organised edible oil segment. R P S Kohli, promoter, Jivo Wellness, said that the first plant at Viruddhnagar will be commissioned in a few months.

“We are investing Rs 15 crore in this plant, which will cater to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. We plan to move pan-India in two years and set up a plant at Mumbai and Sangrur, with an investment of Rs 25 crore,” he added. He added that though all these bottling plants, besides the recently launched plant in Delhi, will initially have a capacity to bottle half a million litres per month, each of these plants will have expandable capacity of 2 million litres per month.

Canola oil is an edible oil with qualities to reduce the risk of heart attack, clogging of arteries and hypertension and is also 10 times cheaper than olive oil.

“Most of our requirement is imported from Canada (150,000 litres per month). We are looking to increase the area under canola cultivation, so that we can bring down our import bill. We plan to have have 100,000 acres of land in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh under cultivation,” he added. 

New Delhi, September 27
Having faced flak over allocation of 2G spectrum in 2008, the telecom ministry has decided to consult the finance ministry before bailing out operators that have defaulted on their rollout obligations.

The decision comes days after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the country’s top audit body, warned the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that allowing the new entrants to merge with incumbent telecom companies or giving them any other bail out option would be against national interests.

According to reports, the Telecom Commission, the decision-making body of the telecom ministry, will first consider the issue and if found viable, DoT would approach the finance ministry with the available options.

Some telecom firms that had bagged spectrum in 2008 have been seeking a bail out from DoT by either selling their spectrum to existing telecom firms or by merging with them.

Allowing the companies to exit without fulfilling their rollout obligations would violate existing regulations, RP Singh, director-general of audit (post & telecommunications) at CAG, said in a letter dated September 15 to the telecom ministry.

The letter added such a step would amount to letting off ‘companies that hoarded a valuable national resource (airwaves) without paying any revenue share to the exchequer’.

CAG has also warned against relaxing M&A norms to offer exit options to new telecom companies. “Any decision taken on the proposed exit route for some telecom licensees and allotment of spectrum to merged entities should be in consonance with terms and conditions of the licence agreements as per the laid-down policy on mergers and acquisitions. National interest should be accorded supreme priority from all angles, including the financial one,” the letter said.

There are apprehensions that in case no option was given to the struggling operators, they may go to court, locking up precious spectrum. There is a possibility that the issue may be referred to an eGoM headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.

New Delhi, September 27
The National Stock Exchange today launched trading through mobile phones and the Kerala-based brokerage house Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services was the first member of the exchange which availed this facility.

"Among the members who have obtained the permission from the exchange to provide the facility of securities trading through wireless technology, the first trade on the exchange was by Geojit BNP Paribas," the NSE said in a statement.

On the first day of operation, the brokerage firm saw the total value of trads worth Rs 33.81 lakh in capital market segment contributed by 74 clients, Rs 1.30 crore in the F&O segment contributed by six clients and Rs 18.83 lakh in the currency derivatives segment contributed by two clients.

Geojit BNP Paribas has membership in, and is listed on, the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Last week, the Bombay Stock Exchange launched mobile- based trading through its 33 leading brokers.

Leading BSE stock brokers, namely, Angel Broking, Motilal Oswal Securities, Marwadi Shares & Finance, BCB Brokerage, Asika Stock Broking, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, SMC Global Securities, ICICI Securities, India Infoline, Kotak Securities, Standard Chartered STCI Capital Markets were among those who started providing the mobile-based trading facility to their clients. — PTI