Ak's Blog

Update on AGR Dispute case Leading telcos are discussing a proposal with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) regarding paying part of their AGR dues upfront by March 31 if the Supreme Court gives a favourable verdict on their “modification petition”, which will be heard this week. The companies have offered to pay upfront the principal amount due for licence fees and spectrum usage charges (SUCs) on the basis of adjusted gross revenue (AGR). This amount will not include the interest, the penalty, and the interest on the penalty. The proposed upfront amount will be the difference between the AGR calculations done by the DoT and what the telcos have paid as licence fees and SUCs over the years based on their interpretation of AGR. The Supreme Court had in October upheld the DoT definition of AGR, which resulted in a Rs 1.47 trillion additional payout bill for the telcos. The move suggested by telcos, if executed, will bring in additional revenues of Rs 22,077 crore from B...

AGR and its dispute between telecom and DoT Leading telecom companies reported record losses for the quarter ended September 2019 after making provisions toward the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of adjusted gross revenue (AGR). The judgment requires private telecom service providers to pay out higher sums towards license fee and spectrum usage fee, which are dependent on the value of AGR. The telecom operators’ liabilities towards the said charges, including interest and penalties, is estimated to be a whopping Rs  1.3 lakh crore. What is AGR ? The telecom sector was liberalised under the National Telecom Policy, 1994 after which licenses were issued to companies in return for a fixed license fee. To provide relief from the steep fixed license fee, the government in 1999 gave an option to the licensees to migrate to the revenue sharing fee model. Under this, mobile telephone operators were required to share a percentage of their AGR with the government as ...

On-line facility for CA students for seeking change of Centre/Group/Medium for CA exam ICAI found that some candidates while filling the examination application form do not exercise reasonable care and commit errors and seek change of Centre/Group/Medium, on account of errors committed by them in their examination application forms, after submission. Therefore the Institute has introduced an online facility to make correction in the fields of Centre/Group/Medium. The Institue also announced that manual applications will not be entertained for the same. Announcement dated Jan 21, 2020 :- On-line facility for seeking change of Centre/Group/Medium for appearing in CA examinations It is found that some candidates while filling the examination application form do not exercise reasonable care and commit errors and seek change of Centre/Group/Medium, on account of errors committed by them in their examination application forms, after submission. With a view to provide an opportunity to...

No stay on CAA, Centre govt gets 4 weeks to reply, 5 judge Supreme Court bench to hear petitions;  No stay on CAA, Centre govt gets 4 weeks to reply, 5 judge Supreme Court bench to hear petitions;  The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to put a stay on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and said that the court will set up a five-judge constitution bench to hear the large number of petitions filed against the contentious citizenship law. The Supreme Court bench headed by CJI SA Bobde also gave four weeks' time to the Centre to reply on the petitions and refused to stay CAA till all petitions are heard. Top developments from CAA hearing in Supreme Court: 1. A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde was hearing a batch of 144 pleas challenging the validity of CAA, including those filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh. 2. The court has also ruled that no high court will be hearing matters on the Citizenship...

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday introduced the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in the Lok Sabha to replace the Ordinance that was used to slash corporate tax rate to stimulate growth rate in a slowing economy. The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 will replace the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019, promulgated on September 20, 2019, to cut the base corporate tax rate to 22 per cent from 30 per cent. Ms Sitharaman introduced the Bill just before the proceedings in the Lok Sabha were adjourned for the day following opposition uproar over political developments in Maharashtra. Also, the International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) Authority Bill, 2019, that provides for creation of a unified financial regulator for IFSCs was introduced amid a din over the Maharashtra developments. Ms Sitharaman had on September 20 announced the lowering of the base corporate tax rate to 22 per cent from 30 per cent for companies that do not seek exemptions, and ...