Antrix-Devas case: 10 things to know about the airwaves deal

The government will use the Supreme Court order calling the 2005 deal between ISRO's commercial arm Antrix and privately-owned Devas Multimedia a fraud, to counter seizure of its properties, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday as she launched a blistering attack on the Congress for handing over airwaves used by the defence to the private firm for pittance.

1) In 2005, Devas Multimedia signed an agreement with Antrix -- the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) -- to provide multimedia services to mobile users using the leased S-band satellite spectrum.

2)  Under the agreement, Devas got bandwidth from ISRO's commercial arm to deploy services.

3) The deal was cancelled in 2011 on the ground that the auction of the broadband spectrum was mired in fraud and that the government needed the S-band satellite spectrum for national security and other social purposes.

4) Antrix had approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking liquidation of Devas. Last year, NCLT ordered liquidation of Devas observing that the firm appeared to have been incorporated with fraudulent intentions.

5) Devas appealed against the order before NCLAT which in September 2021 upheld the liquidation. Devas filed an appeal before the Supreme Court which also upheld the liquidation. 

6) Devas initiated arbitration against the annulment at the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC). 

7) Two separate arbitrations were also initiated under the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) by Mauritius investors in Devas Multimedia under the India-Mauritius BIT and by Deutsche Telekom -- a German company -- under the India- Germany BIT.

8) India lost all three disputes and has to pay a total of USD 1.29 billion in damages.

9) The ISRO's commercial arm said that CBI and the ED, too, found fraud in the deal.

10)  Its shareholders are pursuing Indian assets abroad to recover award and have got a French court order for freezing Indian properties in Paris and got partial rights over funds maintained by Air India in Canada.

Read more: Antrix-Devas deal signed during Congress regime was 'fraud', says Nirmala Sitharaman