The Indian government and British telecom operator Vodafone Group Plc have extended the deadline to mutually find a third arbitrator to help resolve the Rs 200 billion tax dispute by another month, to November 2014. This comes after the two entities missed the recent deadline of agreeing on a third arbitrator by October 17, 2014. This is for the third time that the two parties have failed to mutually decide on the third arbitrator.

Earlier, the government had appointed RC Lahoti, former chief justice of India, as its arbitrator while Vodafone named Canadian trial lawyer Yves Fortier as its choice. The two arbitrators are yet to decide on third arbitrator.

The tax dispute between the Indian government and Vodafone Group arose over the capital-gains tax related to the telecom company’s 2007 acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa Limited’s Indian telecom assets. The second case relates to the transfer-pricing case involving Vodafone India Services.

Vodafone International Holdings BV had filed for arbitration on April 17, 2014 under the bilateral investment protection agreement between India and the Netherlands, questioning the government’s enactment of the retrospective tax laws in 2012 that made the telecom company liable to pay tax even after a favourable judgement by the Supreme Court in January 2012.