In a major setback for telecom majors – Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel – government sources have confirmed to CNBC TV18 that Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) waiver is no longer under consideration. Media reports had earlier stated that the government is considering waiving 50 per cent interest and 100 per cent of penalties and interest on penalties on the AGR dues of telcos. This had come after the telecom operators had sought interventions from the government.
In 2019, the Supreme Court had passed a verdict stating that the telecom sector had long reaped the fruits of the Centre’s liberalised mode of payment by revenue sharing regime with the government. Per this mechanism, the operators had to pay a certain licensing fee and spectrum usage fee to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The Department calculated the fee as a percentage of the AGR. As a result of this verdict, Vodafone Idea has to pay estimated dues of Rs 80,000 crore and Bharti Airtel has to pay approximately Rs 42,000 crore.
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Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea had filed petitions against the court’s October 2019 judgment. The Supreme Court has consistently dismissed appeals from the two telcos for recomputation of AGR dues, including review petitions (2021) and curative pleas (2024).
The aforementioned waiver was the only hope for the telecom companies. According to media reports, the waiver could have provided relief of around Rs 1,000 billion to the telecom industry, of which around Rs 520 billion relief could come for VIL vs its total AGR dues of Rs 703 billion and Rs 380 billion for Bharti Airtel vs its total AGR due of around Rs 440 billion.
According to CNBC TV18, sources said that the cabinet secretariat has communicated the decision w.r.t AGR to DoT.
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