India court to hear Vodafone tax case on July 8

NEW DELHI, INDIA: An Indian court has deferred hearing of Vodafone's appeal against India's tax department to July 8, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

Vodafone filed an appeal with the Bombay High Court on Monday challenging the tax department's jurisdiction to tax the company's stake buy in a telecoms firm in 2007.

Vodafone has not said how much the authorities were seeking, but a person with knowledge of the matter has said it was about 120 billion rupees ($2.6 billion), which is higher than the $2 billion figure estimated by Indian media.

The tax department had set a June 14 hearing to discuss the size of the tax bill, Vodafone said last week.