GMR Airports’ DIAL Wins TDSAT Appeal Against AERA’s Delhi Airport Tariff Order

GMR Airports’ Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has won an appeal before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) against the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India’s (AERA) tariff order for Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.

In its judgment pronounced on September 18, 2026, TDSAT modified several aspects of AERA’s March 28, 2025 order for the fourth control period, covering April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2029, and directed the regulator to implement its ruling within three months.

The tribunal directed AERA to use DIAL’s actual cost of debt of 10.55%, instead of 10.37%, for the third control period true-up. It also set aside the Rs. 21,899.23 crore minimum revenue threshold for revenue-share assets and directed future true-ups to be based on actual revenue.

Additionally, TDSAT instructed AERA to recognise actual CSR expenditure as an allowable operating and maintenance cost and permit actual legal expenses without revenue-based apportionment. GMR Airports said the tribunal allowed all issues raised by DIAL, including its challenge concerning the non-implementation of an earlier tribunal order.