NEW DELHI, March 13 (Reuters) - India has asked thecountry's top five telecommunication carriers to pay a combined18.42 billion rupees ($339 million) in additional fees after agovernment audit found they had under-reported revenues over twofinancial years, a minister said, although the companies havedisputed the demand.
Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone Group Plc's Indian unit, Reliance Communications Ltd, IdeaCellular Ltd and Tata Teleservices Ltd hadunder-stated their revenues by a combined $2 billion over twofinancial years to March 2008, the minister said.
Carriers in India are required to share a percentage oftheir revenue every year with the government as licence fees.The government had in 2009 ordered an audit of their books afterallegations of under-reporting.
The government has asked Reliance Communications to pay 6.23billion rupees including interest while Tata Tele is asked topay 5.05 billion rupees, Milind Deora, minister of state forcommunications, told parliament.
Bharti has been asked to pay 3.32 billion rupees, VodafoneIndia 2.47 billion rupees and Idea 1.34 billion rupees, Deorasaid.
However, different courts have temporarily halted executionof the demand notices, Deora said in a written reply to aquestion from a lawmaker.