Airtel completes self-assessment of AGR dues, says owes ₹13,004 crore only

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel 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 ₹13,004 crore which it has already paid off, the telecom major said.

As per government calculations, the Sunil Bharti Mittal-led company owed over ₹35,000 crore to the DoT.

The assessment of dues was done for the period 2006-07 to February 2020.

Bharti Airtel had earlier this month paid ₹10,000 crore to the department of telecommunications (DoT), and the balance of ₹3,004 crore has also been paid, it said on Saturday.

With this, the company said, it has complied with the October verdict of the Supreme Court which directed companies to pay AGR related dues for the last 14 years.

In addition to ₹13,004 crore, Bharti Airetl has also paid ₹5,000 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.

“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.

With Bharti Airtel paying dues, this will put pressure on Vodafone Idea which has repeatedly told the government that it will be forced to shut shop in the absence of urgent relief measures.

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, Mint reported on 21 February.

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 ₹50,000 crore. It has so far paid ₹3,500 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.