Vodafone’s victory in a four-year-long tax dispute in India has cleared the way for an IPO of its local unit that could value it at £11.3 billion (US$17.6 billion), reports Bloomberg.

On Friday, India’s top court dismissed the government’s demand for US$2.2 billion in taxes relating to Vodafone's entry into the market in 2007 following its acquisition of Hutchison’s Indian unit.

According to the report, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao said last year that the company hadn’t been able to proceed with a listing as the tax dispute created an “uncertain” regulatory environment.

“It takes the IPO a step closer,” Robin Bienenstock, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein in London, told Bloomberg. “This wasn’t a good moment for the Indian government to do something hostile.”

Last year Vodafone took full control of the operator – the country’s third largest – by buying out the 33 percent stake held by local partner Essar Group. That deal valued Vodafone Essar at US$16.5 billion, according to Bloomberg.

The US$17.6 billion valuation is based on about 11 times EBITDA, Bienenstock said. Indian mobile market-leader Bharti Airtel is trading at about 10 times EBITDA, she said, reflecting Vodafone Essar's better growth prospects.

Colao last year said that an Indian IPO could be similar to the share sale of the company’s South African unit, Vodacom. Vodafone kept a 65 percent stake in the firm after the business was listed in 2009.

Vodafone would raise as much as £3.4 billion if it decided to sell a 30 percent stake in India, added Bienenstock.