Bharti Airtel on Friday said it would make payment of Rs 10,000 crore by February 20 to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
Bharti Group has a liability of Rs 35,600 crore.

“…in compliance with the judgment of the Supreme Court and their direction today, we shall deposit a sum of Rs 10,000 crore by February 20, on behalf of the Bharti Group companies such as Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom and Telenor India,” Airtel said in a letter to the Member (Finance), DoT, Ministry of Communications.

“We are in the process of completing the self-assessment exercise. You will appreciate that this is a complicated process covering 22 circles, multiple licences and substantial period of time, and hence, is time consuming,” Airtel said.

The group said it is confident of completing the self-assessment shortly, and will make the balance payment before the next date of Supreme Court hearing.

DoT, in its letter dated November 13, 2019, following the Supreme Court order of October 24, 2019, had asked mobile operators to undertake a self-assessment and pay their AGR dues.