RED TAPISM CASES IN INDIA: IDEA-VODAFONE MERGER-LAWDECODED-CS ROHIT KUMAR
Indian Government has very good track record of killing our own country growth by taking stupid decisions. Our bureaucrats have taken oath not to learn from their past bad decisions. In this article, we will discuss how our Indian bureaucracy efforts are anti-growth. HOW STORY OF RED TAPISM STARTED? Idea-Vodafone merger was quite famous and it was said that this would help to boost Vodafone earning which have been showing very dismal picture. To go through this merger process, this deal had to navigate various regulatory windows and Department of Telecommunication (DoT) was one them. Such kind of departmental approval is required in big transactions. Our government departments are well equipped to squeeze, and they did in this case as well. DoT approved the merger but put one rider that merged entity would pay $1.1 Billion to Government in the name of Spectrum charges which was the source of the dispute between government & Idea-Voda (merged entity) to meet their fiscal targets. A