Airtel, Vodafone Idea gain as SC agrees to hear plea on AGR dues

According to reports, Vodafone Idea sought an urgent listing of its petition against the Supreme Court’s 2019 verdict on the payment of AGR dues on July 15. Senior counsel Harish Salve, who represents Vodafone Idea in the apex court, sought the urgent hearing before a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud.

The telecom service provider said in its curative plea that while it was not challenging the imposition of the licence fee on the heads as defined by the court, the directions were “vitiated by a patent error of law”, resulting in “a gross miscarriage of justice”, according to reports.

Salve submitted before the SC bench that Vodafone Idea's curative petition was filed earlier in 2023. The company's new backers would like to know the exact amount of its AGR dues. According to reports, the telecom service provider's previous petition for rectifying alleged errors in the calculation of AGR dues was rejected by the apex court.

As per Department of Telecom (DoT), telcos owe more than ₹1 lakh crore to the government in the form of AGR. Vodafone Idea (Vi) owes ₹58,254 crore in AGR while Airtel owed ₹43,980 crore. The Supreme Court had asked the telcos to clear the payment in 10 years.

However, Vodafone Idea claims that the total AGR dues stand at ₹21,533 crore as per its own assessments.

Earlier on July 12, Vodafone Idea informed the stock exchanges that it had received an order from the Joint Commissioner, CGST Commissionerate, Dehradun. The order mentioned that Vodafone Idea had an unreconciled turnover in GSTR 9C for FY 2017-18. The order confirmed that a penalty of ₹10,35,33,374, along with tax demand and interest as applicable, will be levied on the telecom service provider. The company informed the bourses that it does not agree with the order and will take appropriate action to rectify or reverse it.

Vodafone Idea shares traded at ₹16.8 apiece, up 1.2%, on the NSE at 1:15 pm, while Bharti Airtel is trading 1.9% higher at ₹1,465 per share. On a year to date basis, Airtel shares are up over 41%, while Vodafone Idea is up over 5.3%.