Indian Government Minister Refutes Report of Huge Loss from License Awards

Published on: 1st Jan 1970: 1:33am

­Indian government Communications Minister, Kapil Sibal has said that the methodology used to come up with the Rs 1.76 lakh crore (US$40 billion) loss to the government from the allocation of mobile network licenses in 2008 was flawed and that there was actually no loss to the government at all.

He was referring to the report from India's Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which sparked a political scandal when it reported that the allocation of licenses by former Minister, A Raja had been undervalued by between US$12.8 billion and US$40 billion

"The figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore is so utterly erroneous that I would have thought that a complicated and complex issue like this should not have led to the conclusion of this magnitude, which has embarrassed the government and the nation," he said.

"The loss is Zero, nil," he said, refuting the audit estimate point-by-point. He also blamed the opposition for, as he said, hyping up the issue.

For its part, the CAG has said that it stands by its report, and the loss it calculated had occurred.

 

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