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Old 18th November 2019, 19:34   #46
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Re: Road ahead for Vodafone-Idea? Posted the highest loss in Indian history of Rs 50,992 crore

Some of the rules which are framed by the Babu folks can get ridiculous! Any rule framed should be effective from the day of implementation and not go backwards in time to extract its pound of flesh. It makes the revenue dept folks act like Sherlocks!

Lastly the BIG A in the game gave a statement mentioning companies can sell their assets to pay the costs off. I hope a day doesnt come when he can simply sell his house to pay off his debt!

I did note the Judge was called as a favorite of Mr A. Do note the previous SBI chief is a director on the company and a lot of Babus find jobs in the crony capitalists companies whom they favored. I hope there is a overhaul on the system to clean it up inside out and some favorable. How can favoritisim or quid pro quo by officials be permitted? The DND was the granted to IL&FS and the officer in charge joined the company in 6 months!

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Old 18th November 2019, 19:58   #47
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Re: Road ahead for Vodafone-Idea? Posted the highest loss in Indian history of Rs 50,992 crore

And the ripples spread. Vodafone-Idea is increasing it's prices from Dec-1. Details not announced, though.
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Old 18th November 2019, 20:03   #48
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Re: Road ahead for Vodafone-Idea? Posted the highest loss in Indian history of Rs 50,992 crore

Airtel promoters became fabulously rich and made billions all these years, by milking the market. When regulations are tightened they tighten their purse strings in tandem and ask for loosening of regulations. Till that time they do not release funds, and will talk of catastrophe. If at all, when push comes to shove, thousands lose their jobs and they will use this to further their case with the Govt. Govt. is no fool and know the figures. We have to show restraint and wait and watch. Ultimately, Telecom will have three players and Jio wont get monopoly for sure, (neither would they want that)
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Old 18th November 2019, 20:24   #49
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What if !!

What if the government had accepted the Telecom companies contention of separating Telecom revenues and non-telecom revenues, and charging license fee only from the telecom revenues? What if the benefit of doubt was given to Airtel, Vodafone-Idea, and RCOM? FYI, The chotta bhai's company is also hit by this SC ruling, though how the bankrupt company will pay is anybody's guess.

Half the country would have, rightfully, risen in revolt for favoring rich private/foreign companies for not playing by the rules, they themselves signed up for in 2003. All companies, including Jio, formed a lobby to fight against this rule. They fought for 16 years. Jio is affected less because they are newbies.

Instead of blaming government, Supreme Court, DoT, Jio, the Telcos may as well learn the rules and play fairly

This issue has nothing to do with Jio predatory pricing.
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Old 18th November 2019, 23:02   #50
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Re: Road ahead for Vodafone-Idea? Posted the highest loss in Indian history of Rs 50,992 crore

This entire mess is courtesy the Government of India. Regulations in India as a rule (see what I did there!) are very poorly written, and poorly thought out.



If the AGR formula had been more clearly set out, the telcos could have simply factored in the additional cost into their pricing and paid their dues to the Government.



Allowing the uncertainty to first arise, and thereafter to fester is what has led to this mess.
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Old 18th November 2019, 23:29   #51
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Re: Road ahead for Vodafone-Idea? Posted the highest loss in Indian history of Rs 50,992 crore

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Originally Posted by vivek_lm View Post
Sorry if my post looked like it specifically pointed fingers at the current government because that wasn't intentional. If you read through the article I cited above, the unholy nexus dates back to the previous century and had continued to flourish even in the days of many previous regimes.
Indeed. The major rule loopholes regarding spectrum allocation / pricing were in the previous government. We are seeing the effects of that too in the current situation. But I will say no more lest it be treated as a political comment.
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Old 19th November 2019, 09:09   #52
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Re: Road ahead for Vodafone-Idea? Posted the highest loss in Indian history of Rs 50,992 crore

Vodafone-Idea and Bharti Airtel to increase tariffs from Dec. 1

Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bu...1-4650521.html
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Old 19th November 2019, 09:50   #53
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Re: Road ahead for Vodafone-Idea? Posted the highest loss in Indian history of Rs 50,992 crore

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Originally Posted by qaqa View Post
This entire mess is courtesy the Government of India. Regulations in India as a rule (see what I did there!) are very poorly written, and poorly thought out.
That is true. I see it in my work, related to GST. The rules are often kept ambiguous either carelessly or deliberately, leading to discretionary decisions.
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Old 19th November 2019, 10:28   #54
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Re: Road ahead for Vodafone-Idea? Posted the highest loss in Indian history of Rs 50,992 crore

I wouldn't want to beat up our government regulators too much! Remember, we are the country that drafted the world's toughest net neutrality laws and thwarted Facebook's attempt to capture the internet market with Facebook zero. They were so successful in Africa that in many countries, the word 'Facebook' is synonymous with Internet there now (like Jeep for SUV).

What I can say is that our government policies are inconsistent to say the least! And while it's hard to say if there is really a nexus between the India's richest man, the government and the judiciary since there is absolutely no evidence of that yet, the way events are unfolding makes it hard to think otherwise!

I just hope our government institutions are strong enough to prevent state capture like the Guptas did in South Africa!
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Old 20th November 2019, 08:19   #55
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Re: Road ahead for Vodafone-Idea? Posted the highest loss in Indian history of Rs 50,992 crore

All I care is that there shouldn't be a duopoly in the worlds second largest market. (Assuming Voda Idea goes under). This will take us back several decades and will be a huge irony of sorts, from the liberalisation and reform of the early 90s. Hope we dont go back to the OYT-General/Special days (hopefully some people remember this term).
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Old 20th November 2019, 08:28   #56
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Re: Road ahead for Vodafone-Idea? Posted the highest loss in Indian history of Rs 50,992 crore

Purely from a automotive enthusiast and a driver point of view, I believe it is good if mobile and internet tarriffs increase all over India. The hordes of people who casually text, call while walking, driving or even crossing a street will dramatically fall. Will help keep our roads safe.
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Old 20th November 2019, 10:59   #57
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Re: Road ahead for Vodafone-Idea? Posted the highest loss in Indian history of Rs 50,992 crore

All telecom companies are under distress, though I fail to understand why.

There are so many revenue streams which are potential money spinners but telecom companies are not tapping them.

Here are my thoughts :

Why are they charging 1p/sms to marketing, insurance, banks, credit card, property and so many companies ? To general public its 1 Rs. heck they differentiate between local and national SMS for us. They can start charging Rs.1 or more per sms, that way
most companies will send SMS wisely instead of spamming everyday with same messages again and again.

Sim Charge - once again why do they distribute Sim cards free of cost, i know many companies who buy 1000s each day and throw them away once most of the numbers get blocked as they keep spamming people with unwanted dating, property, fraud lottery and other offers, they should charge for a new Sim and regulate it, see abroad the cost of sim is so high and its valuable whereas here sims are treated like toffees.

Call Rates - they are one of the cheapest in the world, they can increase here, that would avoid people spending hours over phone, i know many who are conitnously over phone while driving even risking others lives, also many spend hours discussing recipes and even doing just gossiping for hours.

I think to undercut each other they have stooped down so much eventually making losses, its for them to fix charges and costs, rather than just burdening and average user. Every company makes money mostly out of corporates, and they should too do the same.
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Old 20th November 2019, 11:53   #58
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Re: Road ahead for Vodafone-Idea? Posted the highest loss in Indian history of Rs 50,992 crore

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Originally Posted by xway View Post
All telecom companies are under distress, though I fail to understand why.

There are so many revenue streams which are potential money spinners but telecom companies are not tapping them.

Here are my thoughts :
These are all regressive steps and will do much more harm than good. The only way ahead is data monetization. Jio will lead on this too and rightly so because they are investing in a big way on their capabilities in deep packet inspection, data lakes & data mining. Data is the new oil and MDA has the vision and the money.
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Old 26th September 2020, 09:20   #59
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Re: Only 1% of India pays income tax, govt shows proof

Retrospective taxation: the Vodafone case, and the Hague court ruling

The court has also asked India not to pursue the tax demand any more against Vodafone Group.


https://indianexpress.com/article/ex...uling-6613799/

In a unanimous decision, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague on Friday ruled that India’s retrospective demand of Rs 22,100 crore as capital gains and withholding tax imposed on the British telecommunication company for a 2007 deal was “in breach of the guarantee of fair and equitable treatment”. The court has also asked India not to pursue the tax demand any more against Vodafone Group. In May 2007, Vodafone had bought a 67% stake in Hutchison Whampoa for $11 billion. This included the mobile telephony business and other assets of Hutchison in India. In September that year, the India government for the first time raised a demand of Rs 7,990 crore in capital gains and withholding tax from Vodafone, saying the company should have deducted the tax at source before making a payment to Hutchison.

Vodafone challenged the demand notice in the Bombay High Court, which ruled in favour of the Income Tax Department. Subsequently, Vodafone challenged the High Court judgment in the Supreme Court, which in 2012 ruled that Vodafone Group’s interpretation of the Income Tax Act of 1961 was correct and that it did not have to pay any taxes for the stake purchase.

The same year, the then Finance Minister, the late Pranab Mukherjee, circumvented the Supreme Court’s ruling by proposing an amendment to the Finance Act, thereby giving the Income Tax Department the power to retrospectively tax such deals. The Act was passed by Parliament that year and the onus to pay the taxes fell back on Vodafone. The case had by then become infamous as the ‘retrospective taxation case’.

The retrospective amendment that overturned the decision of the highest court of the land was badly drafted in its wide generalities and carried a perverse sense of vindictiveness. Following international criticism, India tried to settle the matter amicably with Vodafone, but was unable to do so. After the new NDA government came to power, it said it would not create any fresh tax liabilities for companies using the retrospective taxation route.

This was a classic case of business transaction structures being ahead of the law in India. A situation, by the way, law makers in all countries find themselves. The deal of $11 billion was largely about two foreign parties buying and selling what was primarily an India based asset valued in main for its potential Indian market. Which is why the Tax guys said pay me the capital gains. But we had no law in 2007 that covered for such an eventuality. Therein lay the problem. The retrospective tax going back all the way to 1962 was the doing primarily of then Finance Secretary a worthy known for his strong anti-business leanings and license raj mentality. Now in retirement. But his brothers lurk in the North block still.

I won’t opine who is right or who is wrong. I only hope that now that the International Arbitrator, along with the Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Vodafone the IT Department will accept the ruling and let matters rest. My experience with the IT Dept on large claims they make against corporates in India, now matter how fragile their logic, is that they do not like ever taking no for an answer even when their own Department’s Appellate benches rule in favour of the tax payer.

While Vodafone was the first and most visible case. There are two more less visible but large and equally important from a "country ease of doing business" point of view.

Last edited by V.Narayan : 26th September 2020 at 09:23.
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Old 26th September 2020, 09:39   #60
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Re: Only 1% of India pays income tax, govt shows proof

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Originally Posted by V.Narayan View Post
While Vodafone was the first and most visible case. There are two more less visible but large and equally important from a "country ease of doing business" point of view.
Why not educate us on these other two?

Wasn't a retrospective law used when a Supreme Court judgement went against the GoI in a case involving ITC.

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