The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has approached India government again seeking relief measures.
“Telecom service providers have invested and will continue to invest significantly in the telecom infrastructure and it has enabled to meet the increased demand for telecom services,” COAI director general Rajan Mathews said in a letter dated March 28 to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
India should cut the effective rate of the SUC by 3 percent for all TSPs. India should also reduce the licence fee contribution to 3 percent from 8 percent.
India should offer the refund of unutilised input tax credit or soft loan at MCLR to telecoms using the GST input credit as collateral in order to ensure liquidity and low-cost funding.
There should be exemption of levy of the GST on licence fee and SUC and payment of spectrum acquired in auctions, COAI said. India should exempt service tax on amount of licence fee / SUC payable by telecom operators in compliance with the Supreme Court order.
COAI said there has been a disruptive impact on the global supply chain, demand and supply elements and most importantly, on cash flows of companies due to slowing down economic activities. This downturn will have an impact on all payments including those of employees, interest, loan repayments and taxes.
