Bharti Airtel posts Rs 23,045 crore Q2 net loss

New Delhi: Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday posted a staggering Rs 23,045 crore net loss for the second quarter ended September 30, due to provisioning of Rs 28,450 crore in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling on statutory dues.

The Sunil Mittal-led company said the apex court judgement -- which had upheld government's way of calculating revenue of telcos (on which statutory liabilities like licence fee and spectrum usage charges are computed) -- has "significant financial implication for the company".

Last month, Bharti Airtel had postponed the release of its full Q2 earnings to November citing the uncertainty in the sector in the wake of the court ruling on definition of telecom revenues.

Airtel's colossal net loss for just-ended September quarter was on account of exceptional charge pertaining to provisioning of Rs 28,450 crore towards the AGR dues, that included principle of Rs 6,164 crore, interest of Rs 12,219 crore, penalty of Rs 3,760 crore, and interest on penalty of Rs 6,307 crore.

Announcing its Q2 earnings scorecard, Airtel said its consolidated net loss before exceptional items (the one-time charge) for the quarter was Rs 1,123 crore, and that the net Loss (after exceptional items) was Rs 23,045 crore.

The company had recorded net profit of Rs 119 crore in the same quarter previous year, although it said that year-on-year numbers were not comparable due to adoption of new accounting standard.