New Delhi: Airtel has paid 10000 crores out of the AGR statutory dues after the Supreme Court rebuke and the government’s strictness. “A total of Rs 10,000 crore has been paid by Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom and Telenor,” the statement said.
Let me tell you that on Friday, the Supreme Court had reprimanded the top telecom companies for delay in payment of AGR statutory dues. After the rebuke, on Friday evening, the department directed telecom companies to repay the outstanding amount of Rs 1.47 lakh crore by midnight.
The Department of Telecommunications had said that Bharti-Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and other companies would have to pay the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) amount before the deadline by 11:59 pm on Friday night, but no company paid it.
At the same time, after the order of DoT, Bharti Airtel had said to deposit 10 thousand crores by 20 February. The company had said that the remaining amount would be repaid before the next hearing. A little time is needed to calculate AGR.
The company has said that it will pay the balance after self assessment. Bharti Airtel said, “We are in the process of completing the self assessment exercise fast and will make the balance payment on completion of it before the next date of hearing in the Supreme Court.”
Airtel had earlier offered to reply to the DoT order by Rs 20, 000 crore by February 20 and the rest before 17 March. The government owes about 35,586 crore rupees including license fee and spectrum usage fee to Airtel.
