New Delhi:Six private telecom operators have understated revenues to the extent of Rs 61,064.5 crore during 2010-11 and 2014-15, which caused a loss of Rs 7,697.6 crore to the public exchequer.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its latest report tabled in Parliament said audit undertaken by it had revealed "total understatement of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of Rs 61,064.5 crore" by the six companies.

The national auditor said the understatement of AGR was linked to promotional schemes, which included free talk time and discounts as well as non-inclusion of profit from sale of investment.

In 2014, the government had issued show cause notices to some of the top telecom firms for under reporting revenues.

The audit period for Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications and Aircel -is from 2010-11 to 2014-15 and for Sistema Shyam it is 2006-07 to 2014-15. "The interest due on the short paid revenue share up to March 2016 was Rs 4531.6 crore," it said. The new telecom policy (NTP-99) which was introduced in April 1999, had the revenue sharing model in the country's telecom space. 

The CAG report said under this system telecom licensees were required to share a percentage of their adjusted gross revenues with the government as annual licence fees. Mobile operators are also required to pay spectrum usage charge (SUC) for using radio frequency spectrum allotted to them.