AGR dues: SC dismisses plea by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea alleging errors in calculation

After reserving the order on AGR dues last year, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed applications filed by telecommunication companies including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea seeking recomputation of the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR). The bench headed by L Nageswara Rao observed that the recalculation was prohibited based on the earlier order. Last year in September, the top court had allowed telecommunication companies to pay AGR dues in a staggered manner however later the companies alleged errors in calculations made by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Reliance Jio Infocomm is the only phone company that has met the Supreme Court’s adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues deadline, paying Rs 195 crore in January 2020.

The total liability on Vodafone-Idea is ₹58,254 crore, while Bharti Airtel has to pay ₹43,980 crore. According to Vodafone, their estimated dues count to Rs 21,533 crore however the Supreme Court had refused that claim and supported DoT's figures. Vodafone has already paid Rs 7,854 crore and now owes the government Rs 50,400 crore more, to be paid in 10 equal installments through March 31, 2031. Meanwhile, TATA too sought recalculation of its dues stating that Rs. 4,197 crore was already deposited by Tata Teleservices as AGR dues.

SC's 2020 order on AGR dues

The Supreme Court, in July 2020 had reserved its order on a timeline for payment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. While private players Vodafone-Idea and Bharti Airtel agreed to a 15-year time to pay its dues, the Centre allowed a 20-year period. The court has ruled out recalculation of AGR dues and has ordered all documents of telecom insolvencies and pending AGR dues in 10 days, as per reports.

SC's 2019 order on AGR dues

In October 2019, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Centre allowing the DoT to recover Rs 92,641 crore in total adjusted gross revenue (AGR) from telecom operators in India. The telcos paid the license fee and spectrum usage charges (SUC) on AGR which amount to Rs 92,641 crores. The SC ruled that the DOT's claims on the definition of AGR as well as the applicability of interest, penalty, and interest on penalty are both valid and that the operators are liable to pay 100 per cent of the demand that DoT has raised.

(With ANI inputs)