The Supreme Court of India has asked Nokia India to come up with a concrete plan to settle its tax dispute with the country's income tax (I-T) authorities.

The Indian arm of Finnish handset maker stressed on the need for an early settlement of the tax row, saying the transfer of assets to Microsoft Corp had to take place in another 2-3 weeks.  A lawyer for Nokia India said a failure to resolve the dispute would lead to more problems.

The lawyer added that if the deal did not go through, the company would have to close its Chennai plant, which would lead to as many as 35,000 job losses.  The amount fetched from the deal would also be far below expectations in case the Chennai plant was not transferred to Microsoft.

Redmond-based tech giant Microsoft is buying Nokia's handset business for $7.5 billion.  But, Nokia India will not be able to transfer its Chennai plant to the American tech giant unless it settles its tax disputes with Indian tax authorities.

In December last year, the Delhi High Court had allowed Nokia India to sell its Chennai assets to Microsoft after fulfilling certain conditions, but those conditions were opposed by the handset manufacturer.

A SC bench, headed by Justice AR Dave, observed that it would have to take the interests of Chennai plant's employees into account also while passing an order.  It thus asked both sides to "find a way out" of the entanglement in the tax dispute case.

Next heating in the case is scheduled to take place on March 11, 2014.

Source: Top News