Vodafone Idea share price fell over 3% on Monday after the Supreme Court deferred the hearing of the AGR case to after Diwali.At 11:45 am on October 13, VIL shares on NSE were trading 2% lower at Rs 8.87 apiece.VIL had filed the fresh plea against the Department of Telecommunications' (DoT) fresh demand of Rs 5,606 crore relating to the financial year 2016–17. Earlier, the Centre had said efforts were on to arrive at a resolution with the company.Last month, the government had told the apex court that some solution may be required on Vodafone Idea's petition.VIL has sought a direction to the DoT to "comprehensively re-assess and reconcile" all AGR dues for the period up to FY 2016-17 following the Deduction Verification Guidelines dated February 3, 2020.
As of March 2025,Vi had outstanding AGR dues to the tune of Rs 83,400 crore. According to Vodafone Idea, its outstanding debt from banks was Rs 1,945 crore as of June 30 and deferred obligation toward spectrum, payable until FY44, and toward AGR—payable until FY31—aggregated to Rs 1.99 lakh crore.Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) is the income figure used to calculate the license fees and spectrum charges that telecom companies must pay to the government. Earlier, AGR included both telecom revenue and non-telecom income (like interest from deposits or asset sales). In 2021, the rules were relaxed so that non-telecom income is no longer part of AGR, reducing the financial load on operators.
The central government has become the largest shareholder of Vodafone Idea by converting the company’s spectrum payment dues into equity shares. However, the UK-based Vodafone Plc and Aditya Birla Group retain operational control of the company, which was formed in 2018 by merging Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. At the time of merger it was India’s largest telecom operator. Due to mounting debt the company is now struggling to survive. Vodafone Plc’s stake in the company has now declined to 16.1%, Aditya Birla Group’s to 9.4%. The government was unlikely to increase its stake in Vodafone Idea (Vi) beyond the 49 per cent it currently holds anytime soon, Union Minister for Telecommunications Jyotiraditya Scindia said last week.