Airtel to seek reversal of Rs 24.9 lakh penalty order received under CGST

Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it does not agree with an order it received under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act for levy of Rs 24.94 lakh penalty, and will take suitable action for rectification or reversal.

The violation pertains to alleged irregular input tax credit claim from 2017-18 to 2021-22 and other related matters, Airtel said in a BSE filing.

Submitting details of the orders received by the company under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, Airtel said the order was received on December 24.

The order entails a levy of a penalty of Rs 24,94,316, it said, adding, "the company does not agree with the order and will take appropriate action for rectification/reversal of the same."

"The maximum financial impact is to the extent of the penalty levied," it said.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel is venturing into other forays as well as the firm has entered last week into a strategic partnership with IntelliSmart Infrastructure to connect up to 2 crore smart meters with internet of things technology.

The project is estimated to be executed over a period of next 10 years.

"This marks Airtel's foray into smart metering applications such as head end system, along with Cloud and Analytics. This is the one of the largest deals in the smart metering space in the country and will significantly contribute towards Airtel's fast-growing IoT deployment across sectors," Airtel said in a statement.

The company said its proprietary platform the "Airtel IoT Hub" will help the utility track and monitor these smart meters with advanced analytics while maintaining extremely high reliability augmented with telco grade security.