Vodafone says no money to even pay salaries, Airtel says already paid 70 pc

DoT had pegged Bharti Airtel’s dues at Rs 43,980 crore, Vodafone Idea at Rs 58,254 crore and Tata Group at Rs 16,798 crore

 

New Delhi(Agencies): The Supreme Court, on Thursday, asked private telecom operators to furnish undertakings and file affidavits giving a road map for clearing the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) related dues as Vodafone Idea said that it did not have enough money to even pay salaries to its employees.

Bharti Airtel, on the other hand, told the Apex Court that it had paid 70 per cent dues as per its own calculations and the rest would be cleared after consulting the government.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah, which adjourned the hearing for next week, asked the firms as to what was the guarantee that they would clear the dues in the 20-year time-frame being sought by the government.

It questioned the telecom companies whether they were ready to give bank guarantee or directors are prepared to issue a personal guarantee or any other security can be furnished because the court cannot allow such staggered payments of dues.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Vodafone Idea, said as per the government’s calculations, it owed over Rs 53,000 crore, which included interest and penalty for non-payment of dues.

He said license and spectrum were separately auctioned and they had purchased it for thousands of crores of rupees.

 “The value of spectrum can be the best security for payment of dues and licence and spectrum can be cancelled, if the dues are not paid,” he said, adding they did not have enough money to give any bank guarantees.

Rohatgi said: “We are not in a position to give bank guarantees. We don’t have money to pay salaries to our employees and meet our expenses. Spectrum is very valuable and can be the best guarantee for the payment of our dues.”

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Bharti Airtel, said that as per their calculation, they had paid 70 per cent of the dues and only minimal amounts remain, which would be cleared after consulting the government.

He said the company would file a detailed affidavit. The bench said the government had suggested 20 years for payment of dues by the telecom companies but no one had seen the future and what would happen if any of the companies went into liquidation.

It said the litigation started in 1999 and 20 years had already gone and now another 20 years was being sought, could it be termed reasonable. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for interim resolution professional said three telecom companies were facing insolvency proceedings and were in the process of resolution.

Justice Shah told the counsels for the telecom firms that despite earning so much not a single company deposited anything towards COVID-19 relief funds.

While Airtel said it had paid Rs 100 crore in the COVID fund, Tata Group said it paid Rs 1,500 crore.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Group’s self-assessed dues to the government are a whopping Rs 82,300 crore, which is short of what DoT calculated after the Apex Court’s October 24 ruling on the AGR.

In its submission before the Apex Court seeking relief in payment tenure, DoT had pegged Bharti Airtel’s dues at Rs 43,980 crore, Vodafone Idea at Rs 58,254 crore and Tata Group at Rs 16,798 crore.