Fearing coercion, telecom firms part-pay Rs 14,697 crore in dues to government in one day

NEW DELHI: Just days after the Supreme Court threatened non-compliant telcos with contempt of court charges, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea (VIL) and the Tata Group hastened to make partial payments of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.

Monday saw the Department of Telecom receive Rs 14,697 crore out of the estimated Rs 1.47 lakh crore in pending statutory payments, with Bharti Airtel depositing Rs 10,000 crore and VIL and the Tatas paying up Rs 2,500 crore and Rs 2,197 crore, respectively.

DoT’s calculations peg Bharti Airtel’s total dues at Rs 35,586 crore, VIL’s at Rs 53,038 crore and the Tata group’s at Rs 13,823 crore.