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The Department of Telecom is planning to issue a supplementary show-cause notice to Bharti Airtel for alleged discrepancies in submitting licence fee to the Government during 2006-08.
According to DoT, a special audit has revealed that some aspects of the company’s income were not included in the first show-cause notice.
For instance, foreign exchange gains made by the company in 2006-07 were not included in the gross revenue on which the licence fee is calculated. “As finance income including forex gains have to be included on gross basis without any set off, the licensee may be asked to provide details of the amount netted off in 2006-07,” stated an internal DoT note.
Forex gains
According to DoT, Rs 24 crore was determined by the special auditor as forex gains during the period. “It is recommended that while indicating an amount of Rs 2.09 crore in the supplementary show-cause notice, the licensee may be asked to provide information certified by the its statutory auditor,” the note said.
The company will be asked to give details of the gross foreign exchange that was not included in the gross revenue for 2006-08.
When contacted a Bharti spokesperson said, “We have not received any communication in this regard and, hence, will be unable to offer any comment.”
The DoT had ordered a special audit of all large telecom companies, including Reliance Communications, in a bid to check if the operators were paying full licence fee to the Government or not.
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