Government may allow Nokia to sell its mobile manufacturing factory in Chennai on a condition that the money realised through the sale will be kept in an escrow account till final verdict is given on its Rs 210 billion tax dispute case.
Earlier, the government had set-up an inter-ministerial panel to look at options which could be pursued to ensure that the mobile manufacturing operations could be resumed at Nokia?s closed plant. The panel set up in this regard included stakeholders from Department of Revenue, Department of Industrial and Policy Promotion (DIPP) and Department of Electronics and IT. In addition, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) was also part of the discussions. It is learnt that CBDT has agreed to the panel?s proposal of allowing the sale of the manufacturing facility with proceeds from the sale to be deposited in an escrow account.
The assets of Nokia?s mobile manufacturing factory have been frozen for a while owing to a tax-dispute between the company and the Income Tax (IT) Department. Since the Nokia tax dispute is before the courts, the government plans to put forward the resolution before the Supreme Court on April 6, 2015, which is the next date of hearing of the case.
The IT department is claiming Rs 210 billion in taxes from Nokia along with another tax claim of Rs 15 billion has been issued by Tamil Nadu?s commercial tax department from the company for selling mobile handsets made at the factory within the county while availing of tax benefits meant for exports. Earlier in 2014, Microsoft had acquired Nokia?s mobile devices business for about $7.5 billion, barring the factory due to the company?s ongoing tax dispute with the Indian authorities.
