Bharti Airtel reports Rs 23,045 crore Q2 loss

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Thursday reported a record loss of Rs 23,045 crore in the quarter ended September 30 after it was asked to pay Rs 28,450 crore towards adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.

Net Loss (before exceptional items) for Q2 was at Rs 1,123 crore, a negative growth of 16%, the company said in its Q2 results.

Its net loss of Rs 23,045 is 19497% less than the Rs 118 crore profit recorded last year. 

It earned a revenue of Rs 21,131 crore, 5% more than Rs 20,147 it earned last year.   

Last month, the Supreme Court had allowed the Department of Telecommunications to recover dues worth Rs 1.33 lakh crore from telecom companies including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications (RCom) and Vodafone Idea as it rejected telcos' appeal against AGR.

The company in a statement said it has paid 28,450 crore as a charge for the quarter including principal of Rs 6,164 crore, interest Rs 12,219 crore, penalty Rs 3,760 crore and interest on penalty of Rs 6,307 crore with respect to the license fee as estimated based on the Court Judgement and spectrum usage charges (SUC) as estimated based on the definition of AGR.