Vodafone Idea Share Surge 10% on Reports of PMO Considering Relief Proposal for Debt-Ridden Telecom

Shares of Vodafone Idea (Vi) jumped nearly 10% on Friday, August 22, after a report emerged claiming that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is planning to take a call on a relief proposal for the telecom major.Vi stock was trading at its intraday high of ₹7.2 per share around 2:14 pm on Friday.As per a report by Livemint citing people familiar with the matter, PMO received an informal note from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) proposing some relief options for the debt-ridden telecom company (Vi). One of the options is an additional two-year pause on paying the statutory dues under moratorium at present, the report said.

The DoT has proposed to give the telecom major extra time to pay its dues, along with smaller annual payouts and waiver on penalties and interest penalties on AGR payment, the report noted. Vodafone Idea owes nearly ₹83,400 crore in adjusted gross revenue (AGR), and the annual payments currently stand at ₹18,000 crore, scheduled from March 2025. The telecom’s overall dues to the government are at around ₹2 trillion, including penalties and interest, the report stated.  The company has been warning for some time now that it can’t survive without funding support. A collapse of the telecom, as per experts, could limit India’s telecom sector to just two dominant players, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, market reports suggest.While banks remain cautious of lending due to financial constraints of the company, Vi is looking at non-bank options to raise funds for its capital expenditure.

Negotiations with lenders remain stalled due to uncertainty over adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, outgoing CEO Akshaya Moondra said during the June quarter earnings call on August 18.At 2:13 pm, shares of Vodafone Idea were trading 9.9% up at ₹7.2 apiece on the NSE. The market capitalisation of Vodafone Idea stands at ₹77,790.30 crore. The stock hit its 52-week high of ₹16.55 on August 29, 2024, while it was at its yearly low of ₹6.12 on August 14, 2025.