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UK-headquartered Vodafone Group said on Wednesday that the outlook for its joint venture in India, Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL), remains critical.
“The outlook for VIL remains critical. VIL is actively seeking various forms of relief from the Indian Government to ensure that the rate and level of payments it makes to the Indian Government is sustainable and it can meet its other commitments as they fall due,” Vodafone Group said in its third quarter earnings statement.
“Both VIL and Bharti Airtel have subsequently filed modification petitions, which are expected to be heard imminently, to request the court to order the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to determine a payment schedule in relation to Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues and other reliefs,” it added.
India’s incumbent telecom operators had also sought waiving of the penalties and had even moved the Supreme Court. However, on January 17, the apex court had dismissed their plea seeking a review of its earlier order asking the incumbents to pay a total of ₹1.47-lakh crore in past AGR dues by January 23.
Separately, an internal note by DoT’s Licensing Finance Policy Wing said that it will not take any coercive action against incumbent operators in case they default on AGR dues, even as the deadline expired on January 23.
The Supreme Court will now hear the plea, probably next week, while it has not fixed a specific date for the hearing.
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