Indian telecom operators — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications and Aircel — under-reported their revenues to the tune of Rs 61,064.5 crore during 2010-11 and 2014-15, leading to a short payment of Rs 7,697.6 crore to the government.
The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report titled “Sharing of Revenue by Private Telecom Service Providers” tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday pertains to the period of audit 2010-11 to 2014-15.
CAG said the verification of records of six private telecom service providers by audit indicated total understatement of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of Rs 61,064.56 crore by the six telecom companies.
Indian telecom operators pay spectrum fee based on adjusted gross revenue calculated by them. CAG reports have become a point for controversies.
CAG said there was consequent short payment of revenue share to the Government of India to the tune of Rs 7,697.62 crore.
The interest due on short paid revenue share for the period up to March 2016 was Rs 4,531.62 crore.
