Supreme Court junks Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea’s pleas on miscalculation in AGR dues; stocks fall up to 4%
- Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea had argued that the DoT made significant errors in its AGR calculations, failing to account for payments already made.
The Supreme Court of India on Friday dismissed review petitions filed by telecom companies, including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, seeking corrections in the calculation of their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, reports said. This ruling upholds the apex court’s 2021 decision, leaving the companies with no further legal options.
Telecom firms had argued that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) made significant errors in its AGR calculations, failing to account for payments already made. However, the Supreme Court has now reaffirmed its stance, refusing any re-computation.
Following the Supreme Court verdict, shares of telecom companies declined. Vodafone Idea share price fell as much as 4.16% to ₹8.29 apiece, while Bharti Airtel shares declined 0.51% to ₹1,705.00 on the BSE.
AGR Dues Case
The dispute dates back to July 2021, when the Supreme Court rejected telecom firms’ pleas for corrections in AGR dues. The companies contended that calculation errors had led to inflated dues, exceeding ₹1 lakh crore.
A similar plea regarding the re-computation of AGR dues was dismissed in September 2023, and earlier in 2022, their curative petitions were also turned down.
In 2022, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea had requested the Supreme Court to hear their curative petitions in an “open court” against a previous ruling, that had dismissed their plea to rectify alleged calculation errors in the Department of Telecommunications' assessment of AGR dues.
Earlier this month, a media report stated that the Union government was a proposal to waive AGR dues for telecom companies. As per the proposal, the report said, the government was considering “to waive 50% of interest and 100% of penalties and interest on penalties” that make up a bulk of the AGR dues levied on telcos such as Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel after the Supreme Court order of 2019.
At 11:35 AM, Vodafone Idea shares were trading 4.05% lower at ₹8.30 apiece, while Bharti Airtel shares were down 0.15% at ₹1,711.10 apiece on the BSE.
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