The Union Cabinet on Friday is believed to have discussed statutory dues payment by telecom companies and the Supreme Court is likely to be appraised at the next date of hearing.
The Supreme Court had last month asked Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd and other telcos to clear within a month dues that arose out of its October 2019 order that non-telecom revenues have to be included for calculating spectrum charges and license fee.
The debt-laden, loss-making telcos however sought government intervention in relaxing terms of the payments, including staggered payments spread over multiple years.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) reportedly sought a legal opinion from the law officer which is believed to have figured at the meeting of the Cabinet on Friday.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who briefed the media about the decisions taken by the Cabinet, directed queries on the issue to DoT.
DoT officials were tight-lipped about the deliberations, saying the matter was before the Supreme Court.
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The Union Cabinet is understood to have discussed statutory dues payment by telecom companies at its meeting on Friday and it is widely-anticipated that Supreme Court will be appraised at the next date of hearing. The apex court is scheduled to hear the AGR matter on March 17.
Bharti Airtel has, so far, paid Rs 13,004 crore to the government in two installments. It has also deposited an additional Rs 5,000 crore as an "ad-hoc payment (subject to subsequent refund/adjustment) to cover differences, if any, arising from the reconciliation exercise with the DoT". The total payout by Bharti Airtel, however, is half of the Rs 35,586.01 crore liability estimated by the DoT.
Beleaguered Vodafone Idea has pegged its total dues to the government at Rs 21,533 crore -- less than half of what the Telecom Department has estimated. Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read recently indicated keenness to make a "new, good beginning" in India.
Vodafone Idea has so far paid Rs 3,500 crore out of the "self-assessed" liability of Rs 21,533 crore.
Minister of State for Communications Sanjay Dhotre, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha recently, had said the government has received part payment of about Rs 25,900 crore from various telecom operators towards statutory dues.
The adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liabilities arose after the Supreme Court in October last year upheld the government's position on including revenue from non-telecommunication businesses for calculating the annual AGR of telecom companies, a share of which is paid as licence and spectrum fees to the exchequer.
In all, 16 entities had owed the government Rs 1.47 lakh crore in AGR liabilities -- Rs 92,642 crore in licence fee and another Rs 55,054 crore in outstanding spectrum usage charges. Of the estimated dues that include interest and penalty for late payments, Airtel and Vodafone Idea accounted for about 60 per cent.