Airtel pays Rs 8,004 cr towards AGR dues to DoT

New Delhi: Airtel has paid the DoT (Department of Telecommunications) Rs 8,004 crore more as AGR (adjusted gross revenue) dues. The latest tranche of payment is split into Rs 3,004 crore as full and final towards AGR dues, based on Airtel's self-assessment. Airtel has also paid an additional Rs 5,000 crore as "ad-hoc payment," which is subject to refund after the DoT reconciles its own estimates with the telco's.

Airtel pays Rs 18,004 crore as dues to DoT

In a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges on Saturday, Airtel said, "…the Company has paid an additional amount of Rs 3,004 crores towards the full and final amounts due over & above the ad-hoc amount of Rs 10,000 crores paid on February 17, 2020, on behalf of the Bharti Group of Companies (Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom and Telenor India)."

"In addition to the aforesaid amounts paid basis our self-assessment, we have also deposited an additional amount of Rs 5,000 crores, as an ad-hoc payment, (subject to subsequent refund/adjustment) to cover differences, if any, arising from the reconciliation exercise with the DoT," it added. Airtel has now paid DoT Rs 18,004 crore in all compared to the AGR demand of about Rs 35,000 crore.

Airtel has submitted its self-assessment to DoT

The telecom company has also submitted its self-assessment to the telecom department. "….the Company has carried out self-assessment from FY 2006-07 onwards upto December 31, 2019, and interest thereon up to February 29, 2020, in line with the AGR Judgment, various license agreements entered into with the Department of Telecommunications ("DoT") and the various directions issued by the DoT from time to time with respect to Spectrum Usage Charges," the filing added.

The backdrop

Reliance Jio is the only telecom company which has paid its complete AGR dues of Rs 195 crore. It also owed the lowest amount of dues to the government since it started pan-India operations only in 2015. Vodafone Idea, which has received the hardest blow by the Supreme Court's AGR verdict, has so far paid Rs 3,500 crore. The telco has been handed a bill of Rs 57,000 crore by the DoT. Vodafone Idea's estimate of its own dues is Rs 23,000 crore, including Rs 7,000 crore principle.

Tata Teleservices has paid Rs 2,197 crore as per its self-assessment and has submitted details of its own AGR calculations to the government.