RBI opposes terms of $1.18-bn Tata-Docomo pact

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday opposed in Delhi High Court terms of a mutually agreed upon accord submitted by Tata Sons and Japanese telecom giant NTT DoComo, according to CNBC-TV18.

Both companies in a joint filing to the court last week had said that they want an out-of-court-settlement and were ready with blueprint of a mutual agreement.

The RBI has informed the court that it opposed the consent terms and remission of money by Tata Sons to NTT DoCoMo. Remission involves transfer of shares and "illegal" agreement that was being given effect to.

In the joint filing, Tata Sons had told the Delhi high court that it was ready to pay $1.18 billion to DoCoMo which it had won in a London court through arbitration plea.

Tata Sons has already submitted the money with the Delhi high court and Japanese firm will transfer its 26.5 per cent stake once it gets the money transferred to its coffers.

The dispute surfaced when in 2014 NTT DoCoMo pulled out its $2 billion investment in Tata Teleservices-led telecom venture Tata DoCoMo in India that initially offered CDMA services to its customers.

Under terms of shareholder agreement, DoCoMo was supposed to get half of the money invested at the time of breaking the partnership which did not happen as India's foreign investment rules do not allow to do so.

In December 2016, RBI informed the Delhi High Court that any attempt by Tata Sons to buy back shares of DoCoMo in Tata Teleservices or to put into effect shareholder agreement would violate provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act.

The Delhi High Court has asked the RBI to submit by March 14 a detailed response and explain it to the court whether it had powers to oppose the deal reached by the two companies.