  Russia has said that it will not let USD 3.1 billion Sistema invested in its Indian telecom venture go waste due to "internal problems" in India.
Referring to regulatory uncertainties following Supreme Court’s February 2 verdict canceling 122 spectrum licences allotted during the former telecom Minister A Raja in 2008, Russian Ambassador to India Alexander M Kadakin has said that the Russian Government will never allow USD 3.1 billion just be “thrown into abyss”.
He said that It is not only judicial problem but political problem (also). SSTL has lost 21 licences following the verdict. In an interview to CNBC TV18 he said that this is Russian tax payer's money and the share which government holds is about USD 1 billion.
He said that SSTL acted in strict accordance with all laws and regulations of India and bought the license for the frequencies, not claimed by anyone. Kadakin said. The matter has more "political content" than "judicial content.
"Being bona fide buyer of licence, we were thunderstruck when the whole thing all of a sudden changed here in India and all those licences were pronounced invalid," he said. "I feel the problem is. I mean the judicial and other authorities, they did not make distinction between our company, which was a bona fide buyer."
He said that though one of the options that Russia has is to quit India but it wantsinvestment cooperation between the two countries to flourish and develop. “Please understand that we welcome India's investment in Russia, especially in hydrocarbons, oil etc ", he said.
He said that SSTL's MTS brand has added 16 million customers, Kadakin said Russia would "watch very closely how the situation unfolds in the coming months, even days."
On international arbitration, he said that Russia is not for this option either as "We are not for first option. We are not for second option of international arbitration. We have a bilateral agreement on safeguarding mutual investments, which is also in force. International agreements takes precedence over domestic laws.” |