After Supreme Court judgment and the government’s strict deadline, Bharti Airtel on Monday said it has paid Rs 10,000 crores to the telecom department towards statutory dues.
The company said it will make payments of the balance amount after the self-assessment exercise. It will also submit supporting details at the time of making balance payments.
Bharti Airtel said, “The total amount of Rs 10,000 crores has been paid on behalf of Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom, and Telenor. We are in the process of completing the self-assessment exercise quickly and will duly make the balance payments upon completion of the same, before the next date of hearing in the Supreme Court.”
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The telecom department on February 14 began issuing orders asking firms such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea to clear past dues immediately. The DoT(Department of Telecommunications) had faced the fury of the Supreme Court for putting on hold recovery of dues from telecom companies, had started issuing circle or zone-wise demand notices to the firms.
Airtel had previously responded to DoT order by offering to pay Rs 10,000 crores by February 20 and the remaining before March 17. Airtel owes nearly Rs 35,586 crores, including license fee and spectrum usage charge, to the government.