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.
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Vodafone's argument was that the transaction was made between two non-Indian companies (itself and Hong Kong's Hutchison) overseas.
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