Vodafone Idea pays Rs 1,000 crore towards AGR dues

Telecom firm Vodafone Idea on Thursday paid Rs 1,000 crore to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) towards its statutory dues. This was in addition to the part-payments Vodafone-Idea had made previously. On Monday, Vodafone Idea had paid Rs 2,500 crore to the government towards Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues.

 

Vodafone Idea owes a total sum of Rs 53,000 crore to the telecom department. The DoT source said that notices will also be sent to Tata Teleservices for recovery of full dues in a day or two. The company had paid Rs 2,197 crore to the government on Monday, while DoT's calculations peg the outstanding amount at over Rs 14,000 crore.

 

Earlier on Tuesday, Vodafone Idea chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla met Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash amid raising concerns that the company may head to insolvency if the government takes coercive action against the telecom companies for failing to pay AGR dues.  Vodafone Idea is a joint venture between Britain’s Vodafone Group Plc and India’s Idea Cellular. 

 

Supreme Court has directed telcos to pay AGR dues in full by March 17. Vodafone is the worst-hit among telcos that have AGR dues. As of December 2019, Vodafone Idea had Rs.12,530 crores of cash and equivalent reserves.