Jio claims government does not have legal ground to grant AGR relief to Airtel, Vodafone Idea

Reliance Jio in its second letter to the telecom minister has objected the government’s legal grounds to grant relief to Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea on payment of statutory dues based on adjusted gross revenue (AGR).

Recently, Supreme Court (SC) had dismissed the plea of Airtel and Vodafone Idea for waiver of interest, penalty on their dues worth $7 billion. As per Jio, the government should not go against the judgement of SC.

Further, Jio has claimed that the two operators have adequate recourse to funds. As per a statement released by Jio, Bharti Airtel Limited can easily raise Rs 400 billion ($5.7 billion) by selling some of its assets or shares, while Vodafone Idea Limited has no dearth of resources to pay the government its dues.