Following the order of the Supreme Court regarding the payment of AGR), telecom operator Vodafone Idea is in great trouble.
As per reports, Vodafone Idea may consolidate its business from India if funds are not met, given the current circumstances.
This may affect the livelihood of more than one lakh people.
The Indian telecom sector has already seen companies like Etisalat DB, Reliance Communications, Sistema Shyam and Aircel closing their business.
After the Supreme Court order on the repayment of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR), the existence of Vodafone Idea, which was once the largest company in terms of subscribers, has been questioned.
Vodafone Idea was the worst hit by the Supreme Court order in the case related to AGR dues on Friday.
The Supreme Court’s order on the controversial AGR (adjusted gross revenues) has swung the department of telecom (DoT) into action.
The three-judge court rapped the desk officer at the DoT for scuttling SC’s original AGR order which asked the telecom operators to pay up their dues of Rs 1.47 lakh crore by January 23.
DoT desk officer had asked circle head to not take any coercive action against telcos in contravention of the SC judgement.
The SC order, signed by the three-judge bench, did not specify a midnight deadline for payment.
Instead, it asked for payments to be made by next date of hearing on March 17 or demanded the presence of managing directors/directors on the day.
Vodafone Idea on Saturday said it is in the process of assessing the dues it will be able to pay to the government and will pay this in the next few days.
Vodafone Idea on Saturday said: “We wish to inform that post the hearing yesterday (Friday), the company has received letters from Department of Telecommunications (DoT) directing immediate payment.”
In its judgment on October 24, 2019, the Supreme Court had ordered payment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to the telecom companies.
This order created a huge liability of Rs 1.47 lakh crore on the telecom companies already facing tremendous competition.
With this, Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) has a liability of about Rs 53,038 crore.
The Supreme Court had on Friday reprimanded the telecom companies and the Department of Telecom for paying these dues, while the Department of Telecom gave the telecom companies up to 11:59 minutes on Friday night to pay the dues.