Bharti Airtel pays Rs13,004 cr of AGR dues, says complied with SC order
02 Mar 2020
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Telecom operator Bharti Airtel is reported to have paid Rs10,000 crore as the second installment of its AGR dues, early this month, in addition to the Rs3,004 crore paid last month, taking the overall payment to the telecom department to Rs13,004 crore.
In addition to Rs13,004 crore, Bharti Airtel has also paid Rs5,000 crore as “an ad-hoc payment subject to subsequent refund/adjustment" to cover differences arising of any arising from the reconciliation exercise with the DoT.
The company also on Saturday said it has finished assessing dues related to adjusted gross revenue (AGR) that it owes the government. As per the company's self-assessment exercise, the dues amount to Rs13,004 which it has already paid off, the telecom major said.
Besides Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices is also reported to have submitted their self assessment figures on AGR, which though are subject to Department of Telecommunication (DoT) reconciliation. DoT will ask Vodafone Idea also give self assessment figures of their AGR dues.
For Tata Tele which paid Rs2,197 crore, the figure stood at a little over Rs14,000 crore.
“Based on the aforesaid payment we have now complied with the AGR judgment and the directions in the order of Supreme Court dated 24 October, 2019," the company said in an exchange filing on Saturday.
The company now claims it has complied with the October verdict of the Supreme Court which directed companies to pay AGR related dues for the last 14 years.
However, as per government calculations, the Sunil Bharti Mittal-led company owed over Rs35,000 crore to the DoT.
The company said the assessment of dues was done for the period 2006-07 to February 2020.
Vodafone Idea is now under pressure to pay off dues, although it has repeatedly told the government that it will be forced to shut shop in the absence of urgent relief measures.
Vodafone Idea so far has paid Rs3,500 crore, its figure as per government is Rs53,000 crore and VIL is currently doing self assessment and is yet to give full and final figure as per its own calculations.
On Friday, the government’s highest decision-making body had met but did not take a decision on relief measures to help telecom operators pay AGR dues, saying it needed more details to reconcile the amount owed.
“We have not yet decided anything (on relief measures for telcos) on AGR today. There are other factors...we need certain data (from telcos)...there has to be reconciliation (of dues)," one person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday after the meeting of the Digital Communications Commission.
Earlier this week, DoT had asked all operators to speed up their self-assessment of AGR dues and submit documents backing their calculations, even after Bharti Airtel Ltd, Tata Teleservices Ltd and Vodafone Idea made partial payments.
The government is exploring the possibility of roping in third-party audit firms to reconcile dues payable by telecom operators after differences emerged in calculations made by the government and telcos, The Mint reported last month.
Last October, the Supreme Court had upheld the government’s definition of AGR, by which it calculates levies on telecom operators. The order dealt a blow to the telecom industry, which had for years argued that AGR should only include revenue from core telecom operations. Telecom operators now have to pay dues of the past 14 years with interest and fines.
Vodafone Idea has been the worst hit by the verdict, as its past dues have soared to over Rs50,000 crore. It has so far paid Rs3,500 crore to the government.
“With the recent AGR judgment, the situation has become even more critical," the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said in a letter to DoT on 26 February, adding that “the industry requests support from the government to take steps to make the telecom sector sustainable".
The industry body, which represents Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, has also urged the government to set a minimum price for mobile services starting 1 April, and reduce licence fees and spectrum usage charges to alleviate the financial stress in the sector.
This is over and above the 14.33 per cent increase in bundled prepaid tariffs announced by the three telecom operators in the country - Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and Reliance Jio – in December.
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