Airtel has paid full AGR dues of about Rs 13,000 cr, says Sunil Mittal

Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal on Wednesday asserted that the company has already paid its "full" adjusted gross revenue dues at about Rs 13,000 crore.

The comment assumes significance asthe government on March 4 had asked Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and other telecom companies to pay the remaining adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues as per the Supreme Court order without further delay.

The telecom department had then written to all telcos asking them to pay balance dues "without delay" and submit detailed bifurcation of payments (explanation of self-assessed amounts), which it said were necessary for proper reconciliation of legitimate AGR dues.

Emerging from a meeting with Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash on Wednesday, Mittal said, "They said pay full....we have paid full dues."

"We have paid our full dues. It is in our letter ... which is about Rs 13,000 crore, and Rs 5,000 crore which is extra," Mittal said.

Mittal said that the government had asked companies to self assess their statutory dues, which Airtel has already done and made payments accordingly.

"There is no versus...They asked us to self assess, we have self assessed and paid," Mittal said.

Bharti Airtel has paid Rs 13,004 crore to the government in two installments. It had also deposited an additional Rs 5,000 crore "as an ad-hoc payment (subject to subsequent refund/adjustment) to cover differences, if any, arising from the reconciliation exercise with the DoT.

The total payout by Bharti Airtel, however, is half of Rs 35,586.01 crore liability estimated by the DoT.