Shares of Vodafone Idea Ltd. fell sharply on Friday morning, trading at Rs 8.15 going down by 6% ahead of the Supreme Court’s hearing on the telecom company’s plea against the Centre’s additional Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) demand. The debt-laden telco has approached the apex court seeking to quash the Department of Telecom’s (DoT) demand of Rs 9,450 crore in AGR dues. Vodafone Idea argues that the claim exceeds the scope of the Supreme Court’s 2019 ruling on AGR liabilities and includes duplicated amounts. The company has requested a fresh reconciliation starting from pre-FY17 accounts.
Of the total demand, Rs 2,774 crore relates to FY18–19 dues of the merged Vodafone Idea and Idea entities after their August 2018 consolidation, while Rs 5,675 crore pertains to pre-merger Vodafone Group liabilities. During last week’s hearing, the Centre told the court it does not oppose Vodafone Idea’s plea but indicated that a workable solution is required, given that the government holds a 49 per cent stake in the company, though it is not classified as a promoter. The Supreme Court had earlier stressed the need for finality in the AGR proceedings and deferred the plea to September 26. The DoT has defended its stance, stating that the additional dues are not a reassessment but reflect a “gap” arising after completion of financial accounts. Minister of State for Communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani recently confirmed that the government is not considering any further relief for the financially stressed telco.