What is AGR Filing in India?
Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR)
AGR or Adjusted Gross Revenue refers to one variable used to calculate the license fee submitted to CCA by telecom license holders. The term AGR filing refers to the submission of AGR statements (license fee and revenue statement) to the CCA – Controller of Communication of Accounts by the telecom license holders of India.
Why AGR filing?
When the telecom sector started to hit its stride back in the late 90s, the Government started to liberalize - made certain incentives - in the National Telecom Policy. Back then, the license fee was steep. It made telecom aspirants apprehensive about choosing a telecom domain. The new incentives were an attempt to pave the way for more telecom companies to enter the market and participate in the industry's growth.
Those incentives came in the form of a revenue-sharing model. Previously, the telecom companies had to pay a fixed license fee depending upon their size. Now, as per the new norms, the Government has come up with another solution: Adjusted Gross Revenue.
AGR in detail
According to Chapter III – Financial Conditions of Part I in the schedule to the UL (VNO)Agreement, in addition to the entry fee, the annual license fee & spectrum usage charges (SUC) have to be paid as a percentage of Adjusted Gross Revenue by the license holder as per their service area.
Any license holder who has been granted a telecom license as per Section 4 of the National Telegraph Act has to submit the License fee and revenue statement (collectively known as AGR statements) to the Communication Controller of Accounts of DOT. The license fee is 8% of the adjusted gross revenue and includes USO Levy, which is currently 5% of AGR.
Issues with the AGR filing
However, there was a dispute between the telecom companies and the Government about the definition of AGR. As a result, massive AGR dues were calculated from the Government's side that big telecom companies refused to pay.
The Government was complacent about this issue earlier. However, it now has taken a hard line about the AGR dues. An AGR judgement passed recently made it mandatory for the telecom companies to pay their AGR dues as per the prescribed deadline.