AGR Dues: Airtel Makes Payment Of Rs. 8,004 Crore To DOT

The telecom sector is under a lot of crisis, due to AGR dues. The operators have to Rs. 1.47 lakh crore of dues to the ministry until March 17, 2020. However, Airtel has already paid Rs. 10,000 crores to the government, and today it has made the second tranche of Rs. 8,004 crore to the government.

This means that so far, the company has paid Rs. 18,004 crore to the Department of Telecom. Airtel intimated that it did a self- assessment and then made the payment. "Accordingly the company paid an additional amount of Rs 3,004 crore towards the full and final amounts due over and above the ad-hoc amount of Rs 10,000 crore paid on February 17, 2020, on behalf of Bharti Group of companies," the company said in BSE filing.

The telco also informed that it includes payment of all three companies (Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom, and Telenor India). "We have also deposited an additional amount of Rs 5,000 crore, as an ad-hoc payment (subject to the subsequent refund/adjustment to cover differences, if any arising from the reconciliation exercise with the DoT," Airtel said in a filing.

However, as per the ministry estimates, the telco has to pay Rs. 35, 586 crore as AGR dues. The dues include the license fees, spectrum usage charges, and penalties till July 2019. "Based on the aforesaid payment we have now complied with AGR judgement and the directions in the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court dated October 24, 2019," the company further said.

On the other hand, Vodafone has asked for 15 years to pay its dues. The telco has also written a letter to Finance ministry and Niti Ayog and asked to refund its Rs. 8,000 crore worth GST in the license fee. Meanwhile, Vodafone estimated dues at Rs. 23,000 crore, while the ministry is asking for Rs. 53,000 crore.