Telecom stocks dive up to 4% on DoT demand notice worries

A CAG report tabled in Parliament in March said six telecom companies under-reported their adjusted gross revenue by Rs 46,045.75 crore

Telecom stocks today fell by up to 4% hit by concerns that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will soon issue demand notice of over Rs 12,500 crore to six telecom operators amid allegations of under-reporting of revenue to the tune of Rs 45,000 crore.

Shares of Idea Cellular lost 4.14%, Bharti Airtel declined by 2.78% and Reliance Communications slipped 2.57% on BSE.

"DoT is in the process to issue demand notice of over Rs 12,500 crore to six telecom operators – RCom, Tata Tele, Vodafone, Airtel, Idea and Aircel – which the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) has found to have under-reported revenues during the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) regime," a Telecom Ministry official said yesterday.

The CAG in a report tabled in Parliament in March said these six companies under-reported their adjusted gross revenue by Rs 46,045.75 crore, leading to a loss of Rs 12,488.93 crore to the exchequer from 2006 to 2010.

Meanwhile, the government has rubbished Congress charges of Rs 45,000-crore "telecom scam", saying the CAG report on understatement of revenue by six telecom firms pertains to UPA period from 2006-07 to 2009-10 and it has initiated the process of recovering the money from firms like Bharti, RComm and Vodafone.