Bharti Airtel pays Rs10,000 crore to DoT as part of its AGR dues

Bharti Airtel pays ₹10,000 crore to department of telecommunications as a part of its adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, the company said in a statement.

Bharti Airtel's total AGR dues as assessed by DoT amounts to ₹35,586 crore. The company said that it will make the rest of the payment before 17 March as it needs time to complete the exercise of calculating dues across 22 circles.

"The total amount of ₹10,000 crore has been paid on behalf of Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom, and Telenor," the company added.

"We are in the process of completing the self assessment exercise expeditiously and will duly make the balance payment upon completion of the same, before the next date of hearing in the SC," Bharti Airtel said. The company said it will also submit supporting details at the time of making balance payment.

The DoT issued fifth and final notice to telecom operators on February 14 for making payment immediately. DoT's move comes after the Supreme Court on Friday pulled up Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea for not paying their AGR dues to the government by 23 January.

Vodafone Idea's total AGR dues is estimated at ₹53,000 crore, which includes up to ₹24,729 crore of spectrum dues and another ₹28,309 crore in licence fee.

Earlier,Vodafone Idea said it was in the process of assessing the dues it would be able to pay the government.

On 24 October, 2019, the Supreme Court allowed the central government to recover ₹92,641 crore in AGR from telecom companies. The verdict hit Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Idea the hardest.