Nokia rebuts Tamil Nadu Government’s tax claim, as acquisition nears

Nokia has been involved in a long term tax battle with the Indian government for more than a year now, and things don't seem to be getting any better for the Espoo company. Adding fuel to this fire is the Tamil Nadu government, which has recently moved to assess sales tax for devices that are exported from the Chennai Sri Perumbudur manufacturing facility. Nokia claims that these allegations from the government are baseless, as, by law, exports are exempt from taxes. With yet another tax evasion claim, it will be even harder for Nokia to complete its transition in time for the Microsoft acquisition. It is well known that Nokia exports a lot of devices from the assembling plant in Sri Perumbudur, Chennai. We had even visited the factory a couple of times, where we were shown how the Asha and the other low end devices are manufactured, or rather assembled, and shipped from the plant. Nokia mainly exports the low cost devices from this facility but the company has been supplying its own local market too, with devices from the factory. According to Nokia, the Tamil Nadu Government claims that all devices were not exported and just sold domestically in ...