RCom pays 458.77 crore to Ericsson; Ambani wards off possible jail term
New Delhi, Mar 18: A day before the expiry of Supreme Court set deadline, Reliance Communications Monday paid Rs 458.77 crore to Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson, clearing outstanding dues and fending-off a possible jail term for its billionaire Chairman Anil Ambani.
Sources close to RCom said the payment was made to Ericsson Monday evening, a day before the four-week deadline set by the Supreme Court to clear dues expires.
An Ericsson spokesperson confirmed that the telecom gear maker had received the full payment from the Reliance Communications (Rs 458.7 crore) on Monday and Rs 118 crore previously. The amount paid by RCom also includes interest.
Source of funds for the payment was not immediately known and it was expected that RCom will come out with a statement on the issue soon.
The Supreme Court had last month held Ambani in contempt for not paying Ericsson's dues despite promising to do so. It had threatened to send the billionaire as well as Chhaya Virani and Satish Seth - chairmen of two RCom units, to jail if they fail to pay the dues in four weeks.
Ericsson had moved a bankruptcy court in 2017 alleging it had not been paid dues of around Rs 1,600 crore after signing a deal in 2013 to operate, maintain and manage the telco's nationwide network. It extracted a personal guarantee from Ambani to pay the dues.
But repeated failure by RCom to comply with the promise and Ambani's personal guarantee landed him in trouble last month when the Supreme Court held him in contempt.
Thereafter, it suffered another blow when National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) last week refused to free up Rs 260 crore tax refunds withheld by lenders saying it did not have jurisdiction to do so. Banks had opposed release of the tax refunds.
The apex court on February 20 had held Ambani guilty of contempt of court and ordered the debt-laden company to clear the dues to Ericsson within four weeks or face a 3-month jail term. The last date of making the payment was March 19.
In a verdict that had come as a setback to Ambani, the court on February 20 had pulled up the industrialist for his "cavalier attitude" demonstrated through the affidavit filed in the court and said any "unconditional apology" given must be rejected.
"The RCom group is directed to purge the contempt of this Court by payment to Ericsson the sum of Rs 453 crore within a period of four weeks from today. In default of such payment, the Chairmen who have given undertakings to this Court will suffer three months imprisonment," the bench of Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran had said last month.
It had also directed the registry of the apex court to pay Rs 118 crore deposited by the RCom group to Ericsson.
The payment made on Monday is expected to bring curtains down on the bitter and protracted face-off between Reliance Communications and Ericsson over the outstanding dues.
Shares of RCom closed at Rs 4 apiece on the BSE Monday, 9.30 per cent lower than the previous close.
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Ishan Kishan''s fifty powers SRH to 201/9 against RCB
Bengaluru (PTI): Stand-in-captain Ishan Kishan smashed a blazing fifty as Sunrisers Hyderabad resisted Jacob Duffy's excellent spell but only managed a slightly below-par 201 for nine against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL 2026 season-opener here on Saturday.
Kishan (80, 38b, 8x4, 5x6) and his 97-run stand with Heinrich Klaasen (31) for the fourth wicket was the core of SRH innings.
But the match had a rather different start once RCB skipper Rajat Patidar asked Hyderabad to bat first on a pitch that was deprived of top-flight cricket for nearly 10 months.
The pitch would have been a rather unknown commodity and chasing was a better option in that context.
Duffy’s spell (4-0-22-3) vindicated that thought too. The Kiwi pacer used his height well to generate considerable bounce off the track and Abhishek Sharma (7) looked frustrated not being able to free his arm despite carving Duffy for a six over backward point.
The left-hander, who has always been uncomfortable against short ball, soon fell to his frustrations as his awkward pull off Duffy ended in the big gloves of Jitesh Sharma.
Earlier, RCB had burned a DRS review for caught behind appeal against Abhishek off Duffy in the very first over.
Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy too failed to control their pull shots off Duffy as SRH slipped to 29 for three in 4.2 overs, and the visitors ended the Power Play at 49 for three.
But Kishan was never really bogged down by the situation or opposition, batting with oodles of bravado.
The left-hander brought up his fifty in 27 balls with a four off leg-spinner Suyash Sharma, and his blitz contained some sparkling hits.
Abhinandan Singh bore the brunt his wrath, as Kishan carted him for 6, 4, 6 and later spinner Krunal Pandya was hammered for two sixes in an over.
A mighty blow over third man off Abhinandan carried Kishan to 80, and century was there for his taking.
But the pacer had the last laugh as Kishan fell to a stunning one-handed, diving catch by Phil Salt near deep backward point.
This could definitely be high on the list of season’s best catches.
Kishan’s dismissal robbed SRH some steam in the death overs, despite Aniket Verma (43, 19 balls), who was dropped by Virat Kohli on 26 off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, striking a handy knock down the order. Still the Hyderabad outfit could only make 59 runs in the last five overs.
