Vodafone gets SC nod to wire-transfer Rs 2,500 cr

The Supreme Court today allowed the request of British telecom giant Vodafone to deposit Rs 2,500 crore, as directed by it earlier, through banking wire transfer instead of bank draft.

The apex court also postponed the date of hearing to July 19, 2011, from the previously scheduled hearing on February 5.

Wire transfer or credit transfer is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or institution (entity) to another.

A bench headed by the Chief Justice S H Kapadia allowed the Vodafone plea after the company counsel and senior advocate Harish Salve submitted that the money would come through international transactions.

"We need to transfer this amount (Rs 2,500 crore) directly from bank to the Supreme Court registry. It would save us a lot of money. If we get a bank draft it would be price over for us," Salve said.

Accepting it, the court said that the Vodafone will deposit Rs 2,500 crore and a bank guarantee, issued by any nationalised bank, within 3 and 8 weeks, respectively.

The bench also made it clear that the time period would start from November 15 when it had directed the company to deposit the sum.