After Vodafone Idea and Airtel, Tata Tele Services Also Starts Arranging Funds for AGR Dues

Reported by Arpit Sharma January 29th, 2020 at 06:46 pm

The telecom industry as a whole has been under a lot of distress because of the new Supreme Court decision of the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR). The major distressed telecom companies in this have been Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel. However, there is another company which is although not functional but is still bearing the burden of the AGR dues and have to look after them. The company that we are talking about is Tata Teleservices which is owned by Tata Sons. Tata Teleservices has total AGR due of Rs 13,823 crore, and as per a new ET report on the matter, the holding company is scraping together a way on how it can pay the dues.

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TCS Profits to Help Pay AGR Dues

According to top officials of the company, most likely Tata Sons will resort to TCS, which is the stalwart of the holding company and will likely put together a way using the revenue of TCS to pay the dues. It is worth noting that the deadline for the AGR payments was actually January 23, but because of the modification petition filed in the SC, a hearing is pending on the matter. If the modification petition sees a positive outcome, then Tata Teleservices along with other telecom operators, Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel might get to negotiate with the DoT on the timeline of payments.

Telcos Seeking Better Payment Timelines

This AGR decision comes at a time when the Tatas are fighting another legal battle with the income tax department. Also, the officials have some major concerns about the effect of these dues on the balance sheet. As we iterated above, Tata Sons is most likely to fall back on the profits from TCS which is its major venture. It is worth noting that Vodafone Ides has dues which are much higher and amount to Rs 53,000 crore and Bharti Airtel, on the other hand, has dues which amount to Rs 35,500 crore. The three telecom companies have already applied for a review petition which was later rejected by the Supreme Court. Following this, the companies decided to file for a modification petition which would allow them to at least negotiate better timelines for payment.

Reported By

Arpit Sharma Reporter

Arpit spends his day closely following the telecom and tech industry. A music connoisseur and a night owl, he also takes a deep interest in the Indian technology start-up scene and spends rest of his time spilling poetry and stories on paper.