Vodafone's (VOD -0.30%) (VOD 1.10%) tax dispute in India isn't looking like it's going away any time soon.
Following a visit to the country from prime minister David Cameron back in February, India's finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram had said that the government will seek advice from the Cabinet on its ongoing tax dispute with the telecommunications company, and consider its offer for settlement.
But the Financial Times reports that "little progress has since been made" according to people familiar with the situation, despite Chidambaram previously stating that the matter could be concluded before April's annual budget, and is now "highly unlikely" to be resolved until after India's national election in 2014.
The case dates back to early last year, when the country amended its income tax law to enable reimposition of taxes on overseas deals involving local assets, retrospectively affecting Vodafone's stake in Indian telecommunications company Hutchinson Essar that it took in 2007.
The FT highlighted "a series of legal and political barriers" that have obstructed a deal specific to Vodafone, or a widespread reversal of the controversial income tax law that was brought in, and that India's finance ministry has yet to reply to a letter from Vodafone concerning the case.
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