DGFT Blacklists Bharti Airtel Following Non-Fulfillment Of Export Obligations

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), on January 28, has put Bharti Airtel on its ‘Denied Entities List’, reported CNBC-TV18.

This, as per the report, was done following the non-fulfillment of export obligations by the telecom company under the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme.

When a company is listed on the ‘Denied Entities List’, it leads to the cancellation of its import licence.

However, sources in Bharti Airtel told CNBC-TV18 that no such licence has been sought by the company since April 2018 as it had no operational needs. The sources also said that the company had already applied for the closure of all its past licences that were due, adding that approval from the authorities for the same was being awaited.

The shares of the telecom player hit a record high on January 22 following approval from the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to raise the foreign direct investment limit in the company to 100 percent, up from the earlier 49 percent.

The approval came a few days before the company has to clear statutory liabilities of up to nearly Rs 35,586 crore, of which Rs 21,682 crore is a licence fee and another Rs 13,904.01 crore is spectrum dues (excluding the dues of Telenor and Tata Teleservices).―Money Control