CAIRO: British cell phone giant, Vodafone, served a legal notice on Tuesday against the Indian government, rejecting a plan to retroactively tax overseas business deals, saying it violated the rights of foreign investors in India, according to a press release from the company. The company said that the Indian move is a bid to bypass a Supreme Court ruling dismissing a $2.2-billion tax bill imposed on the company over its takeover of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa's Indian cellular unit in 2007. “This is the first step required prior to the commencement of international arbitration,” under an investment treaty between India and the Netherlands,” the company added. “Vodafone has asked the Indian government to abandon or suitably to amend the retrospective aspects of the proposed legislation,” the company said. The legal notice was served by Vodafone's Dutch subsidiary, Vodafone International Holdings BV, as the takeover was struck between Vodafone's Dutch subsidiary and a Cayman Islands-based company. Vodafone clarify that it will take all needed procedures to protect its shareholders' interests, whatever was the cost.
