The British government is finally stepping in to take up the case of UK-based mobile services major Vodafone with the Indian government. Britain’s secretary of state for the department of trade and industry Alistair Darling will seek a level playing field for Vodafone in its bid for Hutch Essar, in the course of his meetings with finance minister P Chidambaram and commerce minister Kamal Nath in New Delhi on Tuesday.
In an exclusive interview with FE on Monday, Darling said only one-way traffic—with Indian firms taking over British companies or picking up equity in Britain’s freer and transparent environment—would not do. His obvious reference was to Tata’s bid for Corus. He said the UK’s open economy and market ensured a fair deal to all companies, domestic or foreign.
