Nokia plant in Chennai raided over unpaid taxes

As many as twenty IT officials raided Nokia’s plant in Sriperumbudur and its offices in Chennai yesterday, over claims of unpaid taxes by the company. The Economic Times had reported that the officials suspected Nokia of evading taxes amounting to Rs 3,000 crores. The raids, which began around noon, were expected to go on till evening. ET quoted an IT official as saying that the company had not paid tax in India.

Folks at The Next Web got in touch with the company, and this is what Nokia replied with, "Earlier today, tax officials visited Nokia’s manufacturing unit in Chennai. Nokia is fully cooperating to ensure they get the necessary information to help in their inquiry. Our operations in Chennai are continuing unaffected. As a global company, Nokia consistently fields a large and steady number of tax queries, audits and assessments. Nokia’s commitment to being a good corporate citizen is firm and unwavering: we always observe applicable laws and rulings in the countries where we operate. This has been a core principle of our operations in India, where Nokia has been present since 1995."

Factory raided

The Finnish giant is currently just days away from the launch of its much awaited Lumia 920 smartphones. There is a big Nokia event planned for tomorrow and invites are already out. The event is all set to be held in New Delhi with a simulcast press event in Mumbai.

The press invites for the simulcast to be held in Mumbai bears the headline ‘Are you ready to switch?’, fuelling suspicions that the event indeed is to officially launch the much awaited Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 handsets in India.

It looks like Indian consumers will get a taste of the global superstar Windows 8 handsets as Nokia will make the Lumia 920 and younger sibling 820 available to the markets by the second or third week of this month.

Reportedly coming at a price tag of anywhere between Rs 38,000 and 40,000, the Nokia Lumia 920 will cater to the higher price bracket while the 820 will cost somewhere between 25,000 and 28,000. There still has not been an official word about the final prices and availability of the handsets to Indian consumers, though it was earlier rumoured that the Windows 8 running Lumias will be launched on January 15, 2013.

In Singapore, the Lumia 920 costs SGD 899, which is Rs 40,750 approximately and the Lumia 820 is priced at SGD 699, which is approximately Rs 31,700. These prices, of course, are just yardsticks when it comes to speculating about what these phones will finally cost in India, since additional taxes could make the prices a wee bit steeper.

Sporting a polycarbonate body with a Snapdragon S4 processor, as well as a PureView sensor, the Lumia 920 was officially unveiled at the Nokia World 2012 event in New York City.  It also comes with the Blink app, which is the smartphone's Burst mode. The Nokia Lumia 920 smartphone will feature an LCD display, which is alittle better than the HD displays that are in the market now.

The Windows 8 running device comes with the latest Nokia PureView Camera that Nokia claims can capture five times more light than rival smartphones. The Camera produces brighter pictures without flash, even indoors and at night. The phone also features built-in wireless charging, making it easy to keep the battery topped up throughout the day.