Vodafone is not liable for India tax

Vodafone has boosted sales in the developing world
India's highest court has ruled that Vodafone is not liable for taxes and penalties of up to $4.4bn (£2.8bn).

The judgement could relieve pressure on other foreign companies facing similar tax investigations in India.

The case centred on Vodafone's $11bn acquisition of the Indian assets of China's Hutchison Telecommunications in 2007.

Vodafone said it did not owe tax on the deal, as the assets were held by a firm based in the Cayman Islands.

In May 2007, Vodafone's Dutch subsidiary acquired a 67% stake in CGP Investments Ltd, a Cayman Islands registered company which held the Indian telecom assets of Hutchison.

It was presented with a tax demand of 112 billion rupees, currently worth $2.2bn. The Indian government subsequently sought penalties of up to 100% of the original bill.

"The court has concluded that Vodafone had no liability to account for withholding tax on its acquisition of interests in Hutchison Essar Limited (now Vodafone India Limited) in 2007," the company said in a statement.

Wider impact

Analysts say about eight other foreign companies are facing similar litigation from Indian authorities, as the country tries to increase corporate tax revenues.

"This settles a prolonged litigation which had created a lot of uncertainty for multinationals," said Sandeep Ladda, executive director at PricewaterhouseCoopers in India.

GE, SAB Miller, Cadbury, AT&T, Sanofi, and Vedanta are among the firms which may be affected by the ruling.

"This should provide much needed respite to other litigants in other cases," he added.

Advocates of higher corporate taxation, however, were disappointed by the judgement.

"This is deeply harmful," said John Christensen, Director of the Tax Justice Network and author of a book on offshore tax havens.

"It will simply encourage all other companies around the world to use offshore structures to avoid tax," he added.

However, the legal precedent may be short-lived.

Rising revenues

India's new tax code, due to be implemented in 2013, contains provisions designed to make transactions similar to Vodafone's liable to tax.

Developing markets such as India are increasingly important to the UK-based telecoms giant.

The firm lost £9m in India in the six months to 30 September, but saw revenue increase by 18.4%.

The country accounted for 9% of the firm's total revenues during the period.

Source:BBC.com

Infosys Recruitment Drive for B.Tech / MCA - 2012 Pass outs

Company Name: Infosys

Education : B.Tech/Mca

Eligibility Criteria considered:

• Please click the following link for the list of colleges short listed by Infosys as per their criteria (Colleges should have at least 2 passed out batches, Colleges had 2012 hiring withMahindra Satyam, HCL, WIPRO, Accenture, CTS, Infosys and TCS are not eligible)
• Please click here for the list of participating colleges
• B. Tech all disciplines and MCA
• For B Techs: 60% in class 10^th, 60% in Intermediate / Diploma and 68% in B. Tech
• For MCAs: 60% in class 10^th, 60% in Intermediate / Diploma and 68% in Degree and 68% in MCA
• No active backlogs are allowed

Note:

All the eligible candidates from the given list of participating colleges are here with advised to check their respective profiles on JKC portal. Only the candidates who meet the given eligibility criteria as per the
JKC profile by 01^st January 2012 would be issued with the Hall Ticket to participate in the selection process

So All the TPOs and eligible students of the participating colleges are requested to check their profiles and do the necessary updations by 01^st January 2012 for not loosing this opportunity in spite of having the eligibility. No requests would be considered after the given deadline to short list the candidates in any circumstances.

Following is the Recruitment Events Schedule; we would activate the venue details and the Hall Tickets Download link of respective events in due course of time one after another. So all the eligible students and their respective TPOs are requested to check this page regularly.
Recruitment Events Schedule:

Districts to be covere	Date of the event	Venue details
Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Warangal	9th Jan 2012,  Monday	To be announced
Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna, Nellore	10th Jan 2012, Tuesday	To be announced
East Godavari, West Godavari, Srikakulam, Vishakhapatnam, Vijaynagaram	11th Jan 2012, Wednesday	To be announced
Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar	12th Jan 2012, Thursday	To be announced
Hyderabad*, Medak, Nalgonda	18th Jan 2012, Wednesday	To be announced
Khammam, Hyderabad, Rangareddy*	20th Jan 2012,  Friday	To be  announced
Hyderabad, Rangareddy*	23rd Jan 2012, Monday	To be announced

Click here to download the Hall Tickets (Link would be activated once the venue is announced for the respective events)

*Colleges of Hyderabad and Rangareddy are accommodated in 3 separate events, so please check the list of participating colleges for the corresponding event and schedule of your college

Click here for the list of short listed candidates to these events

Instructions for the short listed candidates:

• All the candidates who meet the specified eligibility criteria are requested to check for their name in the given list of short listed candidates
• Short listed candidates can download their Hall Tickets in the following link

• Short listed candidates are requested to download their hall ticket, check for the date and venue of their respective recruitment event and plan accordingly to attend the process
• Short listed candidates are supposed to carry the Hall Ticket (attested by their TPO), their updated resume, passport size photograph, photo ID proof and photo copies of their mark sheets along with to attend the process
• It is the responsibility of the college TPO to check whether the candidate is eligible for the process before attesting their Hall Ticket
• All the short listed candidates are advised to prepare according to the Infosys recruitment pattern (Aptitude cum English test followed behavioral interviews)

Click here to download the Infosys Recruitment Process preparation guide

Source :  JKC Website Ieg.gov

Wipro Fresher Recruitment Drive For BE/B.Tech/M.E/M.Tech/MCA Freshers 2011 Passouts

Company Name : Wipro

Job Designation :  IT

Salary Offered: Best In Market

 Job Location : All Locations In India

 Desired Candidate Profile:    Candiates should be BE/B.Tech/M.E/M.Tech/MCA students only (not for M.Sc students)

50% in 10th & 12th ; 60% in UG & PG

Maximum gap of 2 years between Academics

No standing arrears

Students should not have appeared in the Wipro recruitment drive in the last 6 months.

Education :  BE/B.Tech/M.E/M.Tech/MCA

Qualification : 50% in 10th & 12th ; 60% in UG & PG

Company Profile :

In the year of 1945, in pre–independent India, a vision was born, which would eventually stand out as a brand name synonymous with innovation and integrity. Starting off with consumer products business, Wipro then diversified into newer areas including IT hardware and IT services. Such has been the dynamic power of the organization that over the past 50 years, Wipro has evolved into a leading global IT company, a company which has pioneered many an innovation in the IT services, BPO and R&D services space.

Headquartered at Bangalore, India, we at Wipro implement the philosophy of ‘Applying Thought’, thereby helping clients to “Do Business Better”. Our path breaking innovations and ideas have culminated into the `Wipro Way’ – a process which directly impacts customer benefits by improving time-to-market, enhancing predictability and reliability, and cutting costs.

Wipro’s Global IT business caters to more than 150 global Fortune 500 clients across financial services, retail, transportation, manufacturing, healthcare services, energy and utilities, technology, telecom and media. We employ over 120,000 people from over 70 nationalities and 72 plus global delivery centers across 5 continents.

Company Website : http://www.wipro.com/

Source : WIPRO.com

Apple Finds Environmental Violations in China Suppliers

Apple released on Friday an audit of its major suppliers, saying it found a number of violations including breaches in pay, benefits and environmental practices in plants in China.

Apple Store The Cupertino, California-based company, notorious for keeping its supply chain a secret, also for the first time released a list of its major suppliers.

The company said it conducted 229 audits last year, reperesenting an 80 percent increase over 2010.

Apple [AAPL  419.81    -1.58  (-0.37%)   ] said it probed all levels of its supply chain, including final assembly and component suppliers.

The consumer device giant will grant access to an independent auditing team from the Fair Labor Association in an effort to overcome criticism regarding working conditions at factories in its supply chain.

"It's a level of transparency and independent oversight that is unmatched in our industry," Apple said in the audit report.

Apple said it found 6 active and 13 historical cases of underage labor at some component suppliers but said it did not find any underage workers at its final assembly suppliers.

The report titled "Supplier responsibility progress report" also said it asked suppliers to repay workers after it found 67 facilities had docked worker pay as a disciplinary measure.

Apple also terminated business with one supplier and was correcting the practices of another supplier. Both were repeat offenders, the report said. 

Source :  CNBC.com