New Delhi: The Indian government plans to raise Rs648.4bn ($10.2bn) selling telecommunications airwaves as it seeks to narrow the budget deficit to a seven-year low.
The government expects to earn Rs160bn from an auction of some of the spectrum before March 31, according to a statement yesterday on its website. The defence ministry also will free up additional airwaves for commercial use, according to the statement.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is preparing to present the budget for the financial year starting April 1, aims to cut the deficit to 4.1 percent of gross domestic product this fiscal year amid missed revenue goals. The shortfall reached about 90 percent of the full-year estimate by the end of October, with tax revenue falling 62 percent short of target.
To reach his goal, Jaitley is also increasing taxes on petrol and diesel. Last month he decided against extending a tax break that would have benefited the local automobile industry.
Modi’s cabinet set a base price of Rs36.5bn for the auction of 800 megahertz frequency, Rs39.8bn for 900 megahertz and Rs21.9bn for 1,800 megahertz, a telecom ministry official in New Delhi told reporters, asking not to be identified citing rules.
The defence ministry agreed to vacate 5 megahertz each in 17 circles in the 2,100 megahertz frequency.
In the 900 megahertz frequency, the spectrum being offered is currently licensed to Idea Cellular Ltd, Vodafone Group Plc and Bharti Airtel Ltd, the nation’s telecommunications regulator said in October. India raised $9.8bn from an auction of wireless spectrum in February 2014 in which billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd emerged as a competitor to Vodafone Group and Bharti
Airtel Ltd. Bloomberg
