According to the agreement between the Tata Group and NTT Docomo, had the right to sell its stake if Tata Docomo missed perfomarance targets, with Tata getting right of first refusal.[2] On 25 April 2014, NTT Docomo had announced that they would sell all of their shares in Tata DoCoMo and exit the Indian telecom industry as they had incurred a total loss of$1.3 billion.
Under the joint venture agreement between the two groups, NTT Docomo would either increase its stake from 26.5% to 51%, or sell all of its shares, depending on the performance of Tata Docomo in the Indian market.[8] Since Tata was unable to find a buyer for the shares, they sought the approval of the RBI, in November 2014, to buy back the shares from NTT Docomo for$1.1 billion(at ?58.045 per share), half the price paid by them in 2009.
The RBI had approved the deal in January 2015, but however, went back on their decision and rejected the deal in March 2015, citing FEMA regulations.[9]
Following the RBI decision, the Tata Group offered to purchase Docomo’s stake at ?23.34 a share on the basis of a fair market value determined on 30 June 2014 by PwC.[2] NTT Docomo then moved the London Court of International Arbitration seeking a valuation of ?58 a share