Airtel AGR News: Airtel committed to comply with SC ruling on AGR: Sunil Mittal

Airtel chief Sunil Mittal today said that the group is firmly committed to comply with Supreme Court‘s order on Adjusted Gross Revenue and will make the balance payment expeditiously. He also termed the ‘AGR issue’ as an unprecedented crisis for the telecom industry. His statements comes after his meeting with Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Adding further, he said Airtel has time till March 17 to make balance payments, adding that the company will pay its dues “much before that”. Mittal also said the industry is heavily taxed and suggested cut in taxes and levies for sector.

Today’s development comes after Sunil Bharti Mittal and Kumar Mangalam Birla reached out to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, as a massive payments crisis loomed over the two telcos that together serve more than 580 million customers in India.

The Supreme Court on Friday came down heavily on both telecom companies and the telecom department (DoT) over non-payment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues of Rs 1.47 lakh crore

On January 17, in a setback to the telecom operators, the SC had dismissed their plea seeking a review of its earlier order asking the incumbents to pay a total of Rs 1.47-lakh crore in past AGR dues by January 23.

The ramifications of the verdict was worst felt by Vodafone Idea as it liable to pay up around Rs 50,000 crore. Its last-ditch efforts to get a court reprieve on Monday failed, prompting speculation the government will encash its bank guarantees.