New Delhi, Jan 2 () The Department of Telecom will meet industry players and various associations on January 6 to discuss the Budget wishlist and outstanding issues of the sector which is confronted with thousands of crores in unpaid statutory dues and burgeoning debt, according to sources.
 A senior government official told that the Department of Telecom (DoT) will be "supportive" of the industry's demand for reduction in levies, both licence fee and Spectrum Usage Charges (SUC), and will formally communicate its Budget related suggestions to the finance ministry after holding a detailed consultation with the telecom players.
 "Telecom department supports reduction in licence fee and Spectrum Usage Charges...SUC should be reduced because money is being given by players in the auctions...they are making auction payments," the official said, adding that discussions will span various stakeholders in the industry like service providers, associations and others.
 The telecom department plans to formally write to the Ministry of Finance in the first half of January, post the meeting.
 Mobile operators as well as industry bodies like Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) and Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) will be present at the meeting slated for January 6, a source said.
 COAI had, last month, raised the issue of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) and sought cut in levies like licence fee and SUC during a meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
 The industry has also asked the government to create an infrastructure bank that will raise tax-free bonds, the proceeds of which can be used to lend to the companies at lower rates.
 COAI had also raised the issue of AGR and higher levies (like licence fee and SUC that are being paid by the industry) during the recent meeting.
 "We represented that they be brought down... We urged that licence fee which is currently at 8 per cent be lowered to about 3 per cent, and SUC which is presently at 5 per cent be brought down to 1 per cent... and to see if it could be done over an appropriate period of time," COAI Director General Rajan Mathews had said after the meeting held on December 20 at North Block.
 COAI had also asked the government to clear GST input tax credit dues worth about Rs 36,000 crore, while also seeking removal of the high import duties on telecom equipment.
 The upcoming meeting at DoT is significant as the telecom industry is saddled with Rs 1.47 lakh crore in additional statutory dues in the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling on AGR. Telecom companies owe the government Rs 92,642 crore in unpaid licence fee, and another Rs 55,054 crore in outstanding spectrum usage charges.
 According to government data, the liabilities in the case of Bharti Airtel add up to nearly Rs 35,586 crore, of which Rs 21,682 crore is licence fee and another Rs 13,904.01 crore is the SUC dues (excluding the dues of Telenor and Tata Teleservices).
 In the case of Vodafone Idea, this number stands at a cumulative Rs 53,038 crore, including Rs 24,729 crore of SUC dues and Rs 28,309 crore in licence fee.
 The remaining liability is with state-owned BSNL/MTNL and some of the shut/bankrupt telecom companies.
 The Supreme Court had allowed three months to the affected telcos to cough up the amounts due to the government, and the telecom department subsequently shot-off notices to players to pay their revenue share dues within the timelines stipulated by the court.
 Besides the telecom companies, the DoT has also made it clear that the AGR order will apply to all licencees, including companies such as GAIL, RailTel and PowerGrid. As things stand today, such players, despite a smaller telecom exposure, may have to pay liabilities computed on their entire revenue.
 The DoT had sent a letter to GAIL seeking Rs 1,72,655 crore in dues on IP-1 and IP-2 licences as well as Internet Service Provider (ISP) licence, and is seeking Rs 1.25 lakh crore from PowerGrid which had both a national long-distance as well as an internet licence.
 Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals (GNVFC) too has received a demand notice from the telecom department for payment of outstanding dues worth Rs 15,019 crore by January 23, 2020, pertaining to financial years from 2005-06 to 2018-19 in connection with VSAT and ISP licences held by the company. MBI ABM

DoT to meet industry on Jan 6 on Budget-related issues; will 'support' cut in levies

New Delhi, Jan 24 () State-run transmission utility Power Grid Corporation on Friday said it has filed an application before Supreme Court against Department of Telecom's demand of around Rs 22,000 crore in past dues, saying its revenue from telecom business was only 2 per cent of its turnover.
 Following the October 24 Supreme Court ruling that non-telecom revenues of telecom firms such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea should be included for considering payments of government dues, the telecom department (DoT) sought additional license fee from non-telecom firms also.
 The DoT had sought additional license fee of Rs 1.72 lakh crore from gas utility GAIL India Ltd, Rs 48,000 crore from OIL, around Rs 22,000 crore from Power Grid Corporation (PowerGrid), and has raised similar demands from RailTel and other public sector undertakings (PSUs).
 "On 23rd January 2020, POWERGRID has filed an application before the Hon'ble Supreme Court for clarification/modification of its order on 24th October 2019 and next course of action will be based on the outcome of the application," PowerGrid said in a statement.
 The company pointed out, "Non-Telecom revenue of Power Grid i.e. power transmission and its related consultancy business constitutes 98 per cent of revenue whereas revenue from telecom segment is only about 2 per cent."
 It also claimed that PowerGrid is National Long distance (NLD) and Internet Service Provider (ISP) licensee and is regularly paying the applicable license fee on Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) to DoT in line with terms &amp; conditions of respective license agreements and have also been assessed by DoT up to 2013-14.
 The company said that DoT has done provisional assessments for 2014-15 to 2017-18 and also reassessed for 2012-13 and 2013-14 and raised additional demand to the tune of Rs 21,954 crore in the past one year by addition of non-telecom revenue as miscellaneous income in AGR.
 PowerGrid has contested the demands before DoT and requested for its withdrawal, as the definition of AGR under NLD and ISP license agreements does not include such non-telecom revenue, it said.
 Moreover, it said that the DoT recently completed the assessment of NLD and ISP licenses for 2018-19 without addition of miscellaneous income and in fact assessed a refund to PowerGrid.
 The dispute, regarding interpretation of AGR pending before the Supreme Court, was between DoT and Telecom Service Operators (TSPs), who were holding Unified Access Service License (UASL) and migrated from National Telecom Policy (NTP)-1994 to NTP-1999, it said.
 The recent judgment on October 24, 2019, of the Supreme Court, is not applicable/binding on PowerGrid as it was not licensee prior to 2001 and never held UASL, it added.
 Further, it also said that the definition of AGR as per NLD and ISP license agreements as well as nature of limited telecom activity of PowerGrid is completely different and distinct from that relating to the TSPs, which were before the Supreme Court. KKS ANZ RVK

PowerGrid moves SC against DoT demand of Rs 22K Cr

Mumbai, Jun 18 () Equity benchmarks notched up robust gains on Thursday as investors piled into banking and finance stocks despite weak global cues and geopolitical volatility. After starting on a tepid note, the 30-share BSE Sensex gained momentum in late-afternoon trade to close at 34,208.05, up 700.13 points, or 2.09 per cent. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty jumped 210.50 points, or 2.13 per cent, to 10,091.65. HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and HDFC accounted for over half of the Sensex's gains. In absolute terms, Bajaj Finance was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, climbing 5.46 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI and PowerGrid. On the other hand, ONGC, HUL, TCS, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and Maruti were among the laggards, shedding up to 0.71 per cent. Traders said banking shares witnessed a relief rally after the Centre informed the Supreme Court that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has decided to withdraw 96 per cent of the Rs 4 lakh crore demand for AGR related dues raised against non-telecom PSUs like GAIL. However, DoT sought time from the bench to respond to the affidavits filed by private telecom companies, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, on payment of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues. Meanwhile, Indian and Chinese militaries held Major General-level dialogue on Thursday for the third consecutive day on disengagement of troops as well as restoration of normalcy in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh. "In spite of negative global cues, Indian indices ended the day positive with steady gains. With the Supreme court AGR ruling providing a respite to the exposed banks, the relief was visible in the banking stocks especially those which had exposure to the telecom companies. The banking index contributed the most to the positivity and almost all components of the index ended the day positive. "The current geopolitical situation and associated comments also gave some support to sectoral movements. Caution is advised," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. BSE bankex, finance, metal, power and energy indices rallied up to 3.81 per cent, while telecom and healthcare ended in the red. Broader BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices spurted up to 1.48 per cent. Fitch Ratings on Thursday lowered India's outlook to negative from stable for the first time in eight years, saying the coronavirus pandemic had significantly weakened the country's growth outlook for the year and exposed the challenges associated with a high public-debt burden. Global markets wobbled on concerns over a second wave of coronavirus cases. Bourses in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul settled with losses, while Shanghai closed in the positive territory. Stock exchanges in Europe were trading on a mixed note in early trade. International oil benchmark Brent crude futures inched up 0.76 per cent to USD 41.02 per barrel. The number of cases around the world linked to COVID-19 has crossed 83.31 lakh and the death toll has topped 4.48 lakh. A record single-day spike of 12,881 COVID-19 cases took India's total tally to 3,66,946 while the death toll climbed to 12,237 on Thursday, according to the Union Health Ministry. On the currency front, the rupee settled on a flat note, registering a rise of just 2 paise to 76.14 against the US dollar. ANS ABM ABM

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