Vodafone Idea's ₹78,500 crore AGR dues: CEO says telco wants best, long-term solution from government; shares in focus

Its top official said the telco is working very closely with the government and expects to come up with the best and long-term solution in the matter of its ₹78,500 crore adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.

During the company's earnings call, Vodafone Idea CEO Abhijit Kishore said that the company is engaged with multiple sources, including banks and non-banking finance companies, for fundraising, which also depends on the resolution of the AGR matter for any long-term funding.

"We are looking at the solution which we believe will be best, and with a long-term view from the government. Our sense is that since the Supreme Court order has come recently, there would be a little bit of a dependency on that with the banks when they are looking at long-term funding," Kishore said.

The company, during the quarter, received a favourable order from the Supreme Court that has allowed the government to reconsider and take an appropriate decision with reference to the additional AGR demand raised for the period up to the financial year 2016-2017 and comprehensively reassess and reconcile all AGR (adjusted gross revenue) dues, including interest and penalty.

Kishore said that the AGR liability on the company stood at around ₹78,500 crore at the end of September 2025.

"As of September 30, 2025, Vi's outstanding debt from banks (including interest accrued but not due) is ₹15,421 million, and the deferred payment obligation (including interest accrued but not due) towards spectrum, which is payable over the years till FY2044, and AGR, which is payable over the years till FY2031, aggregates to Rs 2,014,090 million," the company filing said.

VIL (Vodafone Idea Ltd) has incurred a loss of ₹12,132 crore in the first half of the current fiscal, and its net worth stood at negative ₹82,460 crore as of September 30.

The total debt of the company stood at ₹2.02 lakh crore at the end of the reported quarter.

The company, however, has shown improvement in its financial performance by narrowing the loss during the reported quarter on a YoY basis.

Vi's consolidated net loss year-on-year narrowed to ₹5,524 crore in the second quarter ended September 2025, mainly on account of savings in finance cost on debt from banks and an increase in average revenue per user supported by a tariff hike.

The finance cost of Vodafone Idea reduced by about 27% on a year-over-year (YoY) basis to ₹4,784.4 crore in the September 2025 quarter from ₹6,613.6 crore a year ago, mainly on account of a reduction in debt from banks.

VIL debt from banks reduced to ₹1,542 crore in the September quarter from ₹3,250 crore.

Kishore said that the company is mainly focusing on investing in the expansion of network coverage to improve customers' experience, and some investment will also be made in enhancing network capacity.