• Thursday, March 28, 2024

Business

Vodafone Idea may shut shop in India

A pedestrian uses his phone while walking past a Vodafone store in Mumbai on February 18, 2020. (Photo by PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images)

By: Pramod Thomas

Vodafone Idea Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla on Tuesday (18) met Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash.

Post the meeting Birla said he “cannot say anything at the moment.”

Reports say that the JV company is seeking more time to repay dues.

Vodafone Idea owes $4 billion in past dues for spectrum and licenses to the Indian government.

Birla was accompanied by Ravinder Takkar, MD & CEO of Vodafone Idea. The meeting lasted over an hour.

Vodafone Idea on Monday (17) paid Rs 25 billion to the Department of Telecom DoT and promised to pay another Rs 10 billion before the end of the week.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stop DoT from taking any coercive steps for recovery of dues from Vodafone Idea.

In another development, Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Vodafone Idea in the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) case, said that if the telecom company’s bank guarantees are encashed, the entity may force to ‘shut the shop’.

If it happens, it will badly affect over 300 million customers across the country, he said.

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