AGR updates: SC orders Direct telecom companies to submit financial documents

Anisha Aditya Jun 18, 2020

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday is hearing a petition filed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to allow telecom companies to make staggered payment for their Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues.

According to the media statement, Bharti Airtel had submitted to the Supreme Court of India that the telecom department has INR 10,800 Cr of bank guarantees and can be used by the DoT as security against AGR dues and the telco won't furnish any other guarantees and sought 20 years to pay its AGR dues.

Further, Vodafone Idea also informed SC that it is in no position to furnish a bank guarantee, citing losses of over INR 1 lakh crore, whereas Airtel suggested that the telecom company needs to sit down with the government on calculations of the dues.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer, and M R Shah was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the DoT has filed an affidavit explaining the reason for raising the demand of AGR related dues against the PSUs.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told SC, “since public-sector undertakings are not in the business of telecom services we are withdrawing demands for dues.”

Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea Ltd is currently trading at INR 9.88, up by INR 0.03 or 0.3% from its previous closing of INR 9.85 on the BSE and Bharti Airtel Ltd is currently trading at INR 565.75, up by INR 2.25 or 0.4% from its previous closing of INR 563.50 on the BSE.

Below are the highlights of the AGR case:

SC defers hearing to the third week of July on the issue of furnishing undertaking
There has to be provision for a down payment to avail of staggered payments, observes SC
Voda-Idea must work something out to come with some offer: SC
Assets worth INR 42,000 Cr have been charged as securities to secure borrowing of over INR 1 trillion: Voda Idea's counsel to SC

On Thursday, the Centre told the SC that it has decided to withdraw the demands raised on non-telecom PSUs on the basis of AGR verdict.

Anisha Aditya

Guest Author Anisha Aditya leads editorial initiatives at BW Legal, which is the legal publication of BW Businessworld. She is a Management Consultant with specialisation in International Business Strategies, assessment of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements between countries, the impact of preferential access on industries, and global value chains for private companies and governments. She has also assisted in framing state export strategies.