DoT to serve demand notice on Bharti Group

NEW DELHI: On the basis of a special audit, the telecom ministry will soon send a demand notice to Bharti Group to recover pending dues arising out of alleged under-reporting of revenues for the years 2006-07 and 2007-08.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has prepared a draft demand notice, which has been sent for legal vetting , sources said.
A special audit of the accounts of Bharti Airtel and its allied group of companies for 2006-07 and 2007-08 was conducted by the DoT to verify whether proper Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) statements were submitted and the licence fee thereon was paid correctly.
The auditor had more than a year ago submitted a report and pointed out some discrepancies in the account statements, with a few of them under dispute in telecom tribunal TDSAT.
The DoT conducted a similar audit for Vodafone-Essar , RCOM, Idea Cellular and Tata Teleservices. All the auditors have submitted reports and similar action is being contemplated against all the companies. According to sources, the special audit had revealed about Rs 100 crore pending from Bharti.