Vodafone seeks extension for India tax claim reply

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Vodafone has sought an extension until Jan. 29 to reply to a tax claim notice issued last month by the Indian tax department, Minister of State for Finance S.S. Palanimanickam said on Friday in a written reply to question in parliament.

On Oct. 30, India's tax department issued the notice to Vodafone over its $11.2 billion purchase of Hutchison Telecom's Indian operations in 2007, and had said the British firm needed to comply by Nov. 16.

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by John Mair)