Indian tax officials freeze Nokia assets

Indian authorities have frozen some of Finnish telecom giant Nokia’s assets, the company said yesterday, amid a Rs.20-billion (US $ 321 million) tax dispute with the New Delhi government.

Tax authorities froze Nokia’s bank accounts as well as fixed assets, such as buildings, last week, forcing the company to head to the High Court which ordered some of them released, Nokia said in a statement.

Nokia said it has regained access to its bank accounts but some fixed assets remain frozen. It was unclear whether one of its biggest plants world-wide, located in the southern Indian city of Chennai, was targeted in the action.

Nokia is among a string of multinationals to have become embroiled in tax disputes in India, including Cadbury, Royal Dutch Shell and Vodafone.

“Late last week, the Delhi High Court ruled in Nokia’s favour in a case where the Indian tax authorities froze some of Nokia’s assets for potential claims that hadn’t even been raised against the company yet,” said a statement from Nokia, emailed to AFP on Tuesday.

“We are now working closely with the tax authorities to ensure that the parties will find a comprehensive solution to the remaining open issues and discussions have been constructive,” it said.

The company does not believe the assets freeze will affect a US $ 7.2 billion global deal with Microsoft, which has agreed to take over Nokia’s handset business, according to local media reports.

However Nokia, in a separate email to AFP, declined to comment on the deal.

India has stepped up its pursuit of alleged tax offenders to reduce a hefty budget deficit but the high-profile disputes have raised alarm among international investors about what they see as arbitrary tax demands.

Tax officials earlier this year raided Nokia’s Chennai factory as part of its investigations.

“Contrary to speculation in the media, Nokia has sufficient assets in India to meet its tax obligations, details of which will be shared with the tax authorities to allay any concerns they may have,” the statement yesterday said, without commenting further.