In a big move on the AGR (adjusted gross revenue) related dues case, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has withdrawn 96 per cent of over Rs 4 trillion claims levied by it against public sector undertakings (PSUs). In its earlier hearing on the matter, Supreme Court had come down strongly on the DoT for serving demand notices to PSUs.
The apex court had asked the DoT to withdraw its demands issued to public sector companies like Power Grid, GAIL, OIL, etc. It further stated that as per judgement dated October 24, 2019, only telecom companies were asked to pay around Rs 1 trillion in dues related to AGR.
Previously, following the Supreme Court’s order on definition of AGR, the DoT had served demand notices to government-owned companies as well which owned some telecom infrastructure and used it to provide some B2B services. In some cases, the demand was more than the total annual revenues of the companies.
