Vodafone Idea, Indus Tower share prices tumble over 6% as SC rejects AGR petitions

According to the previous verdict, the top court had refused to allow corrections in the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) computation of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.

“We have carefully perused the review petitions as well as the grounds in support thereof. In our opinion, no case for review of the order dated Jul. 23, 2021, passed in Miscellaneous Applications is made out. The review petitions are, accordingly, dismissed. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of,” stated the Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Abhay S. Oka, and Justice Sanjay Kumar.

Following the verdict, shares of Vodafone Idea declined 6.01% to ₹8.13 apiece on BSE. Indus Tower also tanked 5.09% during the intraday trade to ₹330.9 apiece. Shares of Bharti Airtel were trading at ₹1,711.45, falling 0.13%.

The telecom companies argued that there were “glaring errors” in the government’s demand calculations, where payments already made by the companies were not considered when determining the outstanding AGR dues.

Shares of Vodafone were also reacting to the report that the Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked the debt-ridden telecom operator to either deposit a bank guarantee of ₹6,090.7 crore or ₹5,493.2 crore in cash for the shortfall of aggregate payment made for the spectrum the company acquired in 2015. The company, however, is in discussion with the DoT to pay the dues through equity.