BSNL, Vodafone Will Approach Court For Recovering Dues From Aircel!
Meanwhile, employees too are facing the heat, as their salaries are put on hold, and they have no idea when they will get it.
Aircel, the bankrupt telecom firm, is now facing severe monetary issues and is gasping for air as lenders are knocking at their doors for recovering money.
Overall, Aircel has combined debt of Rs 50,000 crore, and the lenders are becoming restless.
Meanwhile, employees too are facing the heat, as their salaries are put on hold, and they have no idea when they will get it.
Telcos To Take Legal Route For Recovering Dues From Aircel?
Reports are coming in which states that BSNL, along with Vodafone and Idea are considering taking the legal route for recovering dues from Aircel.
Considering that Aircel has assets worth Rs 32,000 crore, these telecom firms are banking on the judicial system to provide them relief.
Right now, Aircel needs to pay Rs 60 crore to Idea over IUC or Interconnect Charges. Meanwhile, BSNL has Rs 42 crore to recover.
Aircel had filed for bankruptcy, citing “troubled times” in the “highly financially stressed” industry.
BSNL Chairman has confirmed that legal route is maybe now the only option left.
BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said,
“As regards to recovery of outstanding dues, BSNL could recover Rs 32 crore from bank guarantees (BG) and balance will be recovered after reconciliation of some other BGs held by us or by BGs held by Government of India or through legal process,”
Meanwhile, Idea and Vodafone may approach interim resolution professional, Deloitte’s Vijaykumar V Iyer to negotiate the recovery from Aircel. If this fails, then they will approach National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
Iyer said,
“We are bound by confidentiality obligations and are unable to comment on client-specific matters..”
Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson has already moved Delhi High Court to recover Rs 251 crore from Aircel.
GTL Infrastructure and American Tower Corp have also approached Delhi High Court over their dues of Rs 912 crore and Rs 224 crore.
Emergency Funds Of Rs 95 Crore For Salaries?
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Maxis Communications, the parent company of Aircel has infused Rs 95 crore into the bankrupt company to pay salaries to 4000 employees.
This has been described as a goodwill gesture from them.
This emergency funding would be made via Global Communication Services Holdings (GCSH), which is Maxis’ Mauritius-based subsidiary.
In an email, GCSH said,
“While GCSH is not obligated to fund Aircel anymore, it has infused ?95 crore into Aircel on March 31, 2018, to only cover unpaid salaries of Aircel staff for about a month-and-a-half and certain expenses, which is up to the point when the Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP) was appointed by the NCLT,”
This emergency funding came as a relief for employees because they haven’t been paid since February. And March salary is also due now.
Although Aircel had deposited Rs 100 crore in its Trust and Retention Account (TRA) for paying salaries, they couldn’t withdraw a single penny.
