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India Post
TechBiz Post
May 4, 2012
www.indiapost.com
FinMin hits back, says Vodafone knew of tax liability NEW DELHI: The Finance Ministry has hit back at Vodafone's claim that it was not told of the tax liability on the Hutchison deal, saying that the British telecom giant was provided a copy of the notice. "We have provided copies of the letter (about tax liability) to the concerned parties," Hutchison Essar, which was later taken over by Vodafone, had said in its communication to the tax department on April 5, 2007, a finance ministry official pointed out. Vodafone in a statement had claimed that
it had never received any communication from authorities to withhold tax while making payment to the Hutchison and described the comments of Finance Secretary R S Gujral in this connection as "untrue". The Income Tax Department had in March 2007 advised the Vodafone to withhold tax while making payments to Hutchison to acquire its stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd in the USD 11.2- billion deal. The deal happened in May 2007, well after the tax demand was raised in March 2007, the official said. -PTI
India launches earth observation satellite SRIHARIKOTA, AP: Achieving yet another milestone in its space program, India has successfully launched its first indigenous all-weather radar imaging satellite RISAT-1 that will boost its remote sensing capabilities and facilitate agriculture and disaster management. The perfect launch of the satellite catapulted India into a select band of countries having indigenous radar imaging technology. "Only the US, Canada, Japan and the European consortium have the technology so far," P S Veeraraghavan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram said. Hailing the launch, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said it was an important milestone in India's space program and congratu-
lated the ISRO scientists for displaying mastery of the complex launch vehicle technology. In a textbook launch, the 1,858 kg spacecraft, the country's first microwave remote sensing satellite, was injected into precise orbit by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV C-19 about 19 minutes after a perfect lift off at 5.47 AM at the end of the 71-hour countdown from Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, around 90 km from Chennai. PSLV, the workhorse launch vehicle of Indian Space Research Organization, achieved its 20th consecutive successful flight when it launched RISAT-1, the heaviest satellite ever lifted by it, in a mission described as a "grand success" by the space agency chief K Radhakrishanan.-PTI