The Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP government of promoting “crony capitalism” to help a few telecom companies.
The party alleged that by abusing its discretionary powers, the Telecom Ministry was likely to cause a loss of ₹23,821 crore to the exchequer.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the BJP government “is ... surreptitiously deferring recovery of spectrum auction amount by six years, causing an interest loss of ₹23,821 crore to the public exchequer.”
On August 8, 2016, the BJP government had invited auction of spectrum in 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz bands.
He said the terms of auction required an upfront payment of 50% (1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz bends) or 25% (700 MHz, 800 MHz and 900 MHz) of the final bid amount and the balance in 13 years — no payment for first the three years up to August 26, 2019, and thereafter, 10 equal annual instalments.
The auction ended on October 6, 2016 with 965 MHz sold for ₹65,789.12 crore, of which ₹32,000 crore was paid upfront, the balance amount to be paid in instalments is ₹33,789.12 crore. The three successful bidders were Reliance Jio (269.9 MHz for ₹13,672 crore), Airtel (173.8 MHz for ₹14,244 crore) and Idea (349.20 MHz for ₹12,798 crore).
But Mr. Surjewala said the underwriters, IDFC Securities Ltd., had expected to raise ₹80,000 crore. Thus, the amount represented a shortfall of ₹14,281 crore.
To help the telecom companies, he said, the inter-ministerial committee decided to alter the auction terms by recommending payment of ₹33,789.12 crore within 16 years instead of 10.
The Telecom Ministry and the Telecom Commission had approved this.
