Economic Laws Practice (ELP) has promoted two senior associates to associate partner level: both Rajat Chhabra and Vivek Bajaj are based in Pune in the tax practice.

Senior counsel Harish Salve, whose name appeared in the so-called Panama Papers leak of more than 11 million financial documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, published in India by the Indian Express, told Legally India that including his name was unfair, since his use of a British Virgin Islands-based (BVI) shell company was legal and transparently declared in his tax returns.

A year ago, then chief justice of India H.L. Dattu constituted a bench that would only hear tax cases, recognizing the need to reduce the pile of pending cases in the Supreme Court.

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*Vodafone has become a shorthand for Indian tax troubles, but in the last year or so, it has won several important high court decisions (though not for lack of resistance from government lawyers).

Britain-based Cairn Energy on Tuesday said it would contest a Rs 10,247 crore ($1.6 billion) retrospective demand raised by India’s income tax department and it would seek damages for losses resulting from the department’s attachment of its stake in Cairn India. “Cairn is currently unable to access ...

From Monday, 9 March 2015, a special Supreme Court bench comprising of two seasoned tax hands, Justice AK Sikri and Justice RF Nariman, began exclusively hearing and deciding tax cases from Monday to Friday.

Khaitan & Co hired independent counsel Hormaz Daruwalla as an equity partner in its indirect tax team, reported Bar & Bench . Daruwalla has over 27 years of experience practicing in the Bombay high court and tax tribunals, after graduating from GLC Mumbai. He began his career with Crawford...

A Delhi high court judgment has ruled against the Income Tax Department but in effect upped the pressure on other Mauritius or overseas-based tax avoidance structures.

Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) RC Lahoti is now arbitrator on the international arbitration between Vodafone and the Indian government under the India-Netherlands bilateral treaty, to decide validity of the Rs 27,000 crore tax demand from Vodafone, reported the PTI . The finance ministry’s deci...

Exclusive: Ex-Amarchand Mangaldas tax head Aseem Chawla has started a tax, business and corporate advisory law firm called MPC Legal with two co-founding partners, as the “best friend” firm of chartered accountancy (CA) firm Mohinder Puri & Co.

Exclusive: Economic Laws Practice (ELP) Mumbai indirect tax associate partner Ritesh Kanodia resigned last month after more than six years at the firm, to start up an independent tax practice of two or more partners.

A corollary of the Rule of Law is that legislation with retrospective effect is highly dubious, argues Kian Ganz. The latest budget proposals to tax offshore transactions going back to 1962, is a worrying sign of the kind of country India wants to be.

The Union Budget’s plan to tax Vodafone’s Indian Hutch takeover and similar transactions retrospectively going back to 1962 is unconstitutional and would not pass scrutiny of the courts, said Dutt Menon Dunmorrsett Mumbai-based partner Fereshte Sethna, who represented Vodafone in its Rs 11 crore ($2.4bn) dispute with the tax office in the Mumbai High Court and the Supreme Court.

Economic Laws Practice (ELP) and Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) analysed the legal implications of the Vodafone judgment yesterday – a decision law firms across the board commended for boosting India’s image as an investment destination, upholding the rule of law and settling many questions.

”) 11:00am The Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s 2011 India Union budget has just started after having been approved by cabinet. This blog will begin in earnest once the budget is over and we can get reactions from lawyers. In the meantime, IBN Live has a nice live blog page with a fast video and text updates. Please post your comments and thoughts on the budget below in the meantime.

The Supreme Court declined to stay the Bombay High Court judgment against Vodafone of 8 September , giving the Indian tax department four weeks to decide how much Vodafone will have to pay in taxes on its purchase of Hutchison Whampoa’s Indian telecoms subsidiary, reported Bloomberg today . Vodafone...

Following yesterday’s Bombay High Court victory against Vodafone and Hutchison in their potentially $2bn tax bill appeal, the Income Tax Department’s acting chairman Sudhir Chandra told the Business Standard : “[Income Tax] Department’s position stands vindicated. It is a clear cut case of deliberat...

Yesterday’s Bombay High Court decision that the tax authorities are permitted to assess Vodafone for its Indian tax liability in its acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa in 2007, means that previous and future foreign investments into India would face legal uncertainty, according to tax and corporate lawyers.

The Bombay High Court has held that the Indian tax authorities were correct in assessing Vodafone for its Indian tax liability in the $11bn acquisition of Hutchison Essar.

Amarchand Mangaldas has hired dual-qualified chartered accountant and lawyer DD Nageswar Rao as a partner in Delhi. Rao’s was formerly the India country head of tax at Siemens, with his over 20-year career also including similar roles at the Coca Cola India and Colgate.