Vodafone Idea chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla held a meeting with telecom secretary Anshu Prakash on Tuesday amid concerns that the Department of Telecom may take coercive action against the telecom companies for failing to pay AGR dues.

After the meeting, Birla said he "cannot say anything at the moment."

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to provide more time to Vodafone Idea to clear its adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. The court also rejected Vodafone Idea's request to prevent the DoT from taking coercive action, including encashment of the bank guarantees.

A financial bank guarantee is equal to two quarters of licence fee and other dues. The combined amount of the bank guarantees of Airtel and Vodafone Idea could be in the range of Rs 5,000 crore.

Vodafone Idea on Monday paid Rs 2,500 crore to the DoT and promised to pay another Rs 1,000 crore before the end of the week. But the amount paid for now is less than 5 percent of the dues that the DoT estimates.

In December 2019, Birla had said Vodafone Idea may have to shut shop in absence of any relief from the government. "If we are not getting anything, then I think it is the end of the story for Vodafone Idea," he had said. "It does not make sense to put good money after bad... We will shut shop."

(With inputs from PTI)

First Published:Feb 18, 2020 2:44 PM IST