Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the telecom department has been actively engaging with the companies in the sector on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) issue.

Sitharaman said: "In the light of court's order the department has been actively engaging with the telecom companies immediately after the order and subsequently also after the review and the recent judgement."

Addressing media at Bengaluru, the minister said the department was fully in touch with the companies and she will wait to hear on behalf of the government from the department so that it could know what was the position which the department wants to take on the matter.

On employee stock ownership plan (ESOPs) for startups, she said: “We have given something for the ESOPs in the Budget. Even this morning during the consultation quite a few representatives of startups were here, they have also said that they want something more or something differently, we have asked them to give a paper and we will take it on board.”

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to accept Vodafone Idea's proposal to pay Rs 2,500 crore by today and Rs 1,000 crore by Friday against adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.

First Published:Feb 17, 2020 5:36 PM IST