Vodafone offers to consolidate arbitration proceedings

UK-based Vodafone Group has offered to consolidate its two international arbitration cases against the Indian government, if New Delhi agrees to the move. The Economic Times writes that Vodafone has two arbitration procedures under way relating to a tax claim for its purchase of Vodafone India (then Hutchison Telecom) in 2007, one under the UK-India Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA) and the second under the Netherlands-India BIPA. The Indian government is demanding INR110 billion (USD1.7 billion) in relation to the purchase, with added interest and penalties bringing the total sought by the state to more than INR200 billion. The news outlet cites Vodafone’s lawyer Harish Salve as saying that the consolidation of the two arbitrations would be the company’s defence against any accusations that the two cases were an abuse of the process of law.