(Reuters) – Nokia said on Wednesday it was appealing a ruling last week by the Delhi High Court which said the company must pay deposits on tax claims by local authorities in order to transfer assets related to its mobile phone business to Microsoft.
One such asset – a plant in the southern Indian city of Chennai – is one of Nokia’s biggest phone-making factories. Local authorities seized it last year in a tax dispute, blocking its transfer to Microsoft which bought Nokia’s mobile phone business.
Nokia said it had agreed in December to put money into an escrow account and pay for any additional tax claims once all legal avenues had been exhausted, but a Delhi High Court on Feb 5 clarified that it must pay deposits as claims are made.
Nokia said it made its latest appeal to India’s Supreme Court.
(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; editing by Jason Neely)
