VodaIdea posts highest-ever loss by an Indian co at Rs 7 3,878

NEW DELHI: Vodafone Idea, the country' s third largest telecom operator, reported a staggering Rs 73 ,878 crore of net loss in fiscal ended March 2020- the highest ever by any Indian firm-after it provisioned for Supreme Court mandated statutory dues.

The fir m, which has to pay Rs 51,400 crore dues after the apex court ordered then on-telecom revenues to be included in calculating statutory dues, said the liability has "cast significant doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern".

Vodafone Idea (VIL) reported widening of March quarter net loss to Rs 11,643.5 crore. Its loss es stood at Rs 4,881.9 crore in the same period a year a go and Rs 6,438.8 crore in previous October-December quarter.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) estimates the firm's adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues at Rs 58,254 crore for period up to FY 2016-17, but the company put the dues at Rs 46,000 c rore "after adjustment of certain computational errors and payments made in the past not considered in the DoT demand." Of the total dues , it has made a payment of Rs 6,854.4 crore.

The company took a hit of Rs 1,783.6 crore on account of A GR-related liabilities, and Rs 3,887 crore on account of one-time spectrum charges (OTSC), both of which were recognised as exceptional items during the quarter ended March 2019.

Revenue from operations for the just-ended quarter came in at Rs 11,754.2 crore.

For the full year FY 20, losses ballooned to Rs 73,878.1 crore. Vodafone Idea 's losses stood at Rs 14,603.9 crore in FY19. It said that the revenue had witnessed strong growth of six percent quarter-onquarter, driven by prepaid tariff hike effective December 2019.