- 88624 crore rupees owed to Airtel, Vodafone-Idea in adjusted gross revenue case
- The Supreme Court, in its judgment of 24 October, fixed the payment date as 23 January.
- Airtel, Vodafone-Idea have appealed to set a new payment schedule
Reliance Jio has paid Rs 195 crore on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to the Department of Telecommunications. This includes payment up to 31 January. The news agency gave this information on Thursday, quoting sources. The Supreme Court, in its judgment of 24 October 2019, had set the date of payment of outstanding AGR on telecom companies as January 23 itself. However, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea have sought more time from DoT. 88,624 crore are outstanding on these. These companies say that they will wait till the hearing in the Supreme Court next week. These companies had petitioned the Supreme Court on Tuesday and appealed to set a new schedule of payment.
Read Here: Latest News
There will be no Action at Present on Telecom Companies
:On the other hand, the Department of Telecommunications has instructed the authorities concerned that no action should be taken at present if the telecom companies do not pay the dues. Wait till the next order of the Supreme Court. According to news agency sources, these instructions were issued after the approval of the head of branches related to revenue affairs of the Department of Telecommunications. Reliance Jio.
What is AGR Dispute?
Telecom companies are required to pay 3% of AGR as spectrum fee and 8% as license fee to the government. The companies calculated the AGR based on the 2015 decision of the Telecom Tribunal. The tribunal had stated that the AGR would be included in the revenue excluding revenue from non-core sources like rent, profit from sale of permanent property, dividend and interest. Foreign currency exchange (forex) adjustment was also considered in AGR. However, stranded debt, foreign exchange fluctuations and junk sales were excluded from the AGR calculation.
The Department of Telecommunications also considers rent, profit from sale of permanent property and the amount received from the sale of junk in AGR. The Supreme Court considered the calculation of the Department of Telecommunications to be correct. Telecom companies have to pay the outstanding fees along with interest and penalty on this basis.
