Nick Reed, CEO of the Vodafone Group, on Friday called on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. He was accompanied by Vodafone Idea MD Ravinder Takkar.
“It was a good meeting,” Prasad said when asked about his discussions with Reed.
Reed in a 40-minute long meeting discussed the company’s current situation with Prasad and Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash.
Reed's India visit comes ahead of final hearing of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) issue at the Supreme Court slated for March 17. Vodafone Idea has the maximum AGR dues of Rs 53,000 crore, of which it paid Rs 3,500 crore.
Vodafone Idea on Friday submitted its self assessment of statutory dues to the telecom department and said that its adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues stand at Rs Rs.21,533 crore as per its calculations.
Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL), a joint venture between the UK's Vodafone group and India's Aditya Birla group's Idea Cellular, has sought government intervention to wade financial woes.
Reed was accompained by company's India operations chief executive Ravinder Takkar. The meeting with Prasad ahead of the next round of court hearing is considered crucial and an effort to save Vodafone Idea.
Last November, Reed said that he was confident about India’s growth potential and the country was an important market for the multinational company.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the telco paid Rs 3042.80 crore for airwaves bought in the auctions of 2014, in addition to Rs 2,500 crore it cleared in February against statutory-AGR dues.
Last month, Vodafone Idea chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) Secretary Anshu Prakash to press the demand for relaxation.
However, Birla earlier said that without any government relief, the telecom joint venture might be forced to wind up.
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