India Court Asks Vodafone For Deposit In Tax Case

India's top court on Monday directed Vodafone to deposit 25 billion rupees ($550 million) within three weeks in relation to the $2.5 billion tax dispute, a Vodafone spokesman said.

Vodafone has also been directed to make a bank guarantee worth 85 billion rupees ($1.9 billion) within eight weeks, the official said.

Vodafone, fighting a tax bill in India over its 2007 purchase of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd's mobile business in the country, had appealed to the Supreme Court challenging a lower court order that Indian tax authorities had jurisdiction over tax bills in cross-border deals.

The tax office asked Vodafone to pay 112.18 billion rupees ($2.53 billion) within 30 days, but the British firm said it "strongly disagrees" with the calculation.