Voda Idea pays another Rs 1K cr towards AGR dues

New Delhi: Telecom operator Vodafone Idea on Saturday said it has paid an additional Rs 1,000 crore to the government towards the statutory dues, taking its total payment to an aggregate Rs 7,854 crore. The fresh payment comes at a time when the Supreme Court is slated to hear the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) matter on July 20.

The company had earlier deposited Rs 6,854 crore in three tranches, Vodafone Idea said in a regulatory filing. "...the company has yesterday (July 17, 2020) paid a further sum of Rs 1,000 crore to the DoT (Department of Telecom) towards the AGR dues. The company had earlier deposited Rs 6,854 crore in 3 tranches," the filing said.

With this, the company has paid an aggregate amount of Rs 7,854 crore towards the AGR dues, it added. In the last hearing on the AGR matter on June 18, the Supreme Court had said that private telecom operators, including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, must come out with a "reasonable payment plan", make some payment to "show their bonafide" and file their books of accounts for the last 10 years.

The statutory dues arose after the Supreme Court, in October last year, upheld the government's position on including revenue from non-core businesses in calculating the annual AGR of telecom companies, a share of which is paid as licence and spectrum fee to the exchequer.

Telecom firms have to pay AGR related dues along with interest and penalty -- estimated to be around Rs 1.6 lakh crore. The telcos have been keen on an extended timeline to pay up their statutory dues, in a staggered manner.