Sunil Mittal, Birla meet FM as AGR crisis looms over telecom sector

With the Supreme Court-mandated liability pushing telecom companies to the brink, industry honchos Sunil Bharti Mittal and Kumar Mangalam Birla on Wednesday met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as their firms scrambled to meet payment deadlines.

While the two refused to comment on discussions they had with Sitharaman, Mittal said the telecom sector has been under stress for the last three-and-a-half years and the government should focus on its sustainability.

Mittal, who heads mobile service major Bharti Airtel, first met Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash before going for the meeting with the finance minister.

Birla, who is the chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd, had met the telecom secretary on Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear if the two telecom tycoons met Sitharaman together or separately.