COAI urges DoT to direct PSUs to release dues of vendors, equipment makers

Industry body COAI on Wednesday urged the telecom department to direct PSUs, including BSNL and MTNL, to clear Rs 20,000 crore of cumulative outstanding dues of communications and network equipment manufacturers, infrastructure providers and other vendors.

Flagging the distress felt by its member companies over outstanding dues from PSUs, Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI), in a letter to Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash, said that non-payment of dues is "adding to critical financial woes to our members companies who are facing serious constraints in terms of cash flows due to slowing economic activities in the current situation".

"Also,uge scale of delays and breach of contract commitments by public sector units is highly detrimental to global business sentiment towards India," the COAI said.

At the time when the government making all efforts to attract foreign investment in the country, such issues give a negative signal to global investors on the risks of investing in India and to enter into contracts with government entities, COAI said.

"...we kindly request the urgent intervention of your esteemed office in instructing all concerned Public Sector Units for the earliest release of their respective outstanding dues towards all telecom and network equipment manufacturers, infrastructure providers and other vendors related to telecom services," COAI said.

Stating that prominent players like Nokia, Huawei, Ericsson, ZTE, Sterlite, Indus, Cisco, Juniper, Qualcomm, Apple, Ciena, ECI, Facebook, Google, Amazon are part of COAI, the association said most of its member companies in the segments of telecom and network equipment manufacturers and infrastructure providers have been a long-term partners of BSNL, MTNL and other PSUs.

They have been providing material, support and services to these PSUs for all their telecom network and services requirements.

The COAI said that its member companies have been playing a critical role in addressing the challenges being faced by individuals, corporates, governance services, emergency and utility services, against the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic.

The association said that business continuity of players has been severely impacted on account of the spread of this disease across the globe and the restrictions imposed by the governments to combat the situation.

A severe disruptive impact has been felt on the global supply chain, demand and supply elements and on cash flows of the companies due to slowing economic activities, which in turn are having an impact on all payments including to those for employees, interest, loan repayments and taxes, it said.

"In addition to the aforesaid severe adverse impact on account of COVID-19, we would also bring to your...notice that our members have been supporting various PSUs in delivering uninterrupted services, despite non-payment of their huge pending dues," COAI pointed out.

The situation has become "highly critical" now with total outstanding dues from these PSUs amounting to about Rs 20,000 crore which is pending since long, the association rued.