Telecom Crisis: FM Nirmala Sitharaman Indicates Relief to Telcos on AGR Dues Soon, Says 'Concerned Department Will Do it'

New Delhi, March 6: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that the central government is looking at the options and will take a decision on relief to telecom companies on AGR soon. Sitharaman made the statement after meeting Vodafone Group Plc chief executive Nick Read, along with revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey at her chamber in Parliament House.

Replying to a question asked on the measures taken by Centre to tackle the telecom sector woes which are grappling with the liability to pay adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, Sitharaman said that the concerned department will do it. She said, as reported by Live Mint, "The government will announce the decision, the concerned department will do it." Vodafone-Idea Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla Warns Centre of Business Closure in India, Says 'Will Have to Shut Shop if No Govt Relief'.

According to the latest assessment, Vodafone India has already paid Rs 3,500 crores to the government as AGR dues and apparently Rs 50,000 crore in dues left. Following the Supreme Court order in October last year, telecom firms -- operating in India -- came under huge pressure to pay dues of over Rs 1 trillion by 23 January.

Stating that Vodafone India had completed assessing dues related to the adjusted gross revenue (AGR), it said that their self-assessment exercise say that thet have only Rs 21,533 crore liabilities towards AGR. However, Suprem Court ruling mentioned that telcos have to pay dues for past 14 years with interest and fine.

It is known that the Department of Telecommunications had asked on March 3 had asked the Vodafone Idea Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd and other telecom operators to clear the AGR dues, however, have not mentioned the amount. Reports arrived that Vodafone chief read is supposed to meet telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad later in the day.

Earlier, Vodafone-Idea chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla had indicated that he might have to shut down if it doesn’t get any relief on its AGR dues. While, Airtel chief Sunil Bharti Mittal had said that it is worst phase of telecom sector in the countr. Both of them had met Sitharaman in February and requested her to take some to steps to resolve the issue.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 06, 2020 05:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).