AGR: Vodafone Idea at crossroads

June 12, 2020

Vodafone Idea on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the total demand of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues it faces is Rs 50,000 crore, plus the interest and the penalty, but currently, the telecom company does not even have enough money to pay salaries to its employees and meet its expenses.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Vodafone Idea, told a bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S. Abdul Nazeer and M.R. Shah, that: “Total demand of Rs 50,000 crore plus interest plus interest, penalty we can’t give… we don’t have enough money even to pay to our employees and meet our expenses.”

Rohatgi also argued before the bench that the telecom company is also unable to give any bank guarantee. According to the Centre’s calculation, Vodafone Idea owes nearly Rs 53,000 crore, which includes interests and penalties for non-payment of statutory dues.

During the hearing, Rohatgi contended before the bench that the dues are extremely huge and urged the apex court to allow him to file an affidavit in three or four days.

The bench asked the telecom operators, including Vodafone Idea, to file their response, within five days, regarding the roadmap to clear the AGR dues.

Vodafone’s counsel contended before the bench that it is not possible to give bank guarantee for Rs 50,000 crore AGR dues, but says that its spectrum and license could be taken as security.

“Licences and spectrums were separately auctioned. We purchased them for thousands of crores. Intrinsic value of the spectrum will be best security.

“Licenses can be extended, spectrum (is) very valuable. Spectrum best security for telcos to pay dues,” he added.

At the end of the hearing, the apex court gave some relief to the telecom companies, as it agreed to consider a plea to grant more time to them to clear their dues on AGR charges. The top court, however, made it clear that telecom companies must clear the dues which are around Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

The next hearing on the matter is scheduled on June 18.

Also Read: Google Cloud, Deloitte extend their alliance to india

Also Read: Wipro, IBM paves way for the Cloud journey

Previous Story

Biden demands Facebook to change policies, company responds

Next Story

US Stocks dwindle on Thursday

Latest from BUSINESS

SBI Simplifying KYC Process

SBI’s research arm noted that the RBI’s decision to maintain the policy rate reflects a balanced approach amid global uncertainties, supported by

UPI Powers Digital Revolution

New innovations such as LiteX (offline payments), tap-and-pay, credit card integration, UPI Autopay, and UPI for IPO subscriptions are pushing the platform from

Gold Shines Bright Amid Global Jitters

Gold and silver continued their bullish run on Monday, scaling new highs amid mounting global uncertainties, heightened geopolitical tensions, and growing expectations