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SC to pronounce judgement on Airtel, Voda-Idea plea seeking recomputation of AGR dues today

The Supreme Court of India will pronounce its judgment on the Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea plea seeking recomputation of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues at around 10.30 am on July 23, CNBC-TV18 reported.

The SC had reserved its orders on the Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea plea for correction of errors in AGR calculation on July 19.

While Vodafone has claimed it is about to go under, cited dues of Rs 1.8 lakh crore, and sought correction of arithmetic errors, Bharti Airtel has claimed duplication, unaccounted payments, and disallowed deductions.

Three telecom companies — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and Tata Teleservices — had appealed to the Supreme Court to allow them to make staggered AGR payments. They had also sought correction to calculation errors made by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) in its AGR demand.

According to the DoT, Bharti Airtel owes over Rs 43,000 crore as AGR dues, while Vodafone Idea has a balance payment of more than Rs 50,000 crore.

In October 2020, the top court had upheld the Government of India’s position on the calculation of statutory liabilities. The Centre had suggested that revenue from non-core businesses should also be included in arriving at the annual AGR amount.

Burdened with the claim from the DoT, the telcos had appealed to the Supreme Court to provide the option of staggered payments over either 20 years or 10 years. Vodafone-Idea had argued that the only way to repay such a huge sum would be to ‘earn and pay’.

However, the Solicitor General has informed the Supreme Court that DOT has not shared any instructions on allowing correction of errors, and the apex court too, has on three previous occasions, held that the AGR demand cannot be recomputed.

Notably though, the top court had in September 2020 permitted the telecom companies to clear AGR payments in installments over 10 years, starting March 31, 2021. Money Control

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