EY roped in to figure out the true value of Nokia’s Tamil Nadu plant

A few days after the income tax department told the court that an offer made by a potential buyer for the Nokia plant was too little, the Delhi High Court has intervened to resolve the issue. As per a news report by The Economic Times, consulting firm EY India has been directed to value Nokia's manufacturing plant in Chennai within two months.

As reported by the ET, Justices BD Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva said EY India should assess the plant on an 'on-going and non-going' basis, implying that the factory would be valued as both operational and non-operational.

The order comes a few days after the income tax department told the court that an offer made by a potential buyer for the Nokia plant was too little. The two-judge bench will hear the matter next on September 7.

Nokia, which sold its handset-making business unit to Microsoft in April last year, left the Chennai plant out of the deal after the authorities attached it in a multi-crore rupee tax case.

"We are currently analysing the High Court order and cannot comment further until that work is done. Our overall focus continues to be what we've said for some time now: finding a way to get the asset freeze lifted so we can explore potential opportunities for a sale to a suitable buyer," a Nokia spokesperson told the financial daily.
The ET had reported previously that the Essar Group was interested in the Chennai plant and had valued it atRs 350 crore-450 crore. Essar Group chairman Shashikant Ruia recently confirmed that the group was evaluating the Nokia factory.

The IT department said the offer made the buyer was very low, even as the court sought the basis of the department's claim. The department had told the court at previous hearings that Nokia's tax liabilities could be about Rs 10,000 crore for a single year and the company had not provided a guarantee to meet its tax liabilities.

(Image: Reuters)