Tata Comm gross revenue under-reporting led to Rs 645 cr lower govt fee collection: CAG

NEW DELHI: Tata Communications under-reported gross revenue between 2006-07 to 2017-18 which led to a Rs 645 crore lower levy of licence fee during the period, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has said in a report.

The CAG, in the report, also said the amount needs to be recovered from Tata Communications Ltd (TCL).

"Audit scrutiny of Audited AGR Statements with reference to Profit & Loss Statements and Balance Sheets in respect of

NLD, ILD and ISP-IT licenses of TCL for the period from 200607 to 2017-18 revealed that there was an under-reporting of Gross Revenue (GR) by Rs 13,252.81 crore and consequent short levy of LF of Rs 950.25 crore," it said on Monday. According to the CAG report, the Department of Telecommunications only levied Rs 305.25 crore as a licence fee (LF) on the company.

"After deducting the DoT's assessment of LF of Rs 305.25 crore, the License Fee demanded from TCL by DoT was short by

Rs 645 crore for the said period, which needs to be demanded and recovered," the report said.

"Considering minimum rate of 0.15 per cent of AGR for Spectrum charges, the estimated revenue foregone on a very conservative basis was Rs 67.53 crore towards spectrum charges for one carrier of E and V band and the annual expected revenue foregone was Rs 3.30 crore for one Circle alone based on average AGR (adjusted gross revenue) reported by TSPs (telecom service providers) for the year 2020-21," it added.

The E and V bands are expected to match data transmission speed equivalent to optical fibre and are in high demand by telecom operators for expediting the rollout of telecom services. The CAG said the estimated foregone revenue on account of delay in allocation of E and V band spectrum is "only an indicative figure and the expected actual revenue could be higher based on the number and bandwidth of the carriers allocated to users."

NEW DELHI: Indraprastha Gas Ltd, the firm that retails CNG and piped cooking gas in the national capital, on Tuesday reported a 72 per cent rise in the June quarter net profit on the back of a rise in sales volume.

Net profit of Rs 420.86 crore in April-June compared with Rs 244.29 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal, the company said in a statement.

"IGL registered an overall sales volume growth of 48 per cent over the corresponding quarter in the last fiscal, with the average daily sale going up from 5.32 million standard cubic meters to 7.89 mmscmd," it said. Product-wise, CNG recorded sales volume growth of 63 per cent, while piped natural gas recorded sales volume growth of 17 per cent in the quarter. Accordingly, the total gross sales value during the quarter has moved to Rs 3,519 crore compared to Rs 1,372 crore, showing a growth of 157 per cent.