Vodafone Idea Shares Jump 9% as SC Permits Govt to Take ‘Appropriate' Decision on AGR Dues

Shares of indebted telecom firm Vodafone Idea (Vi) rose as much as 9% on Monday after the Supreme Court passed an order on the additional adjusted gross revenue (AGR) matter. The apex court allowed the government to take “an appropriate decision” on pending dues worth ₹5,606 crore for the financial year 2016–17 (FY17).

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India B. R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran said, “Taking into consideration the status of the case now, the government has infused substantial equity into the company, and further, that the issue involved is likely to have a direct bearing on the interests of 20 crore customers, we see no issue in the Union reconsidering the issue and taking an appropriate decision.”

The order came in a case filed by the telecom firm, which claimed that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) was demanding additional dues already included in its AGR liabilities. These liabilities, linked to the company’s spectrum purchases, arose due to a long-standing dispute over what constitutes AGR. The legal battle, which also involved other telecom companies such as Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices, concluded in 2020, imposing thousands of crores in pending dues, interest and penalties on the firms.

For Vodafone, this liability stood at around ₹83,400 crore as of end-March 2025, with repayments scheduled to begin from March 2026. However, earlier this year, the DoT demanded ₹9,450 crore in AGR dues — of which ₹2,774 crore was against the Idea Group and post-merger Vodafone Idea, and ₹6,675 crore against Vodafone Group for the pre-merger period.

Following this, Vi approached the court, arguing that these liabilities were already crystallised under the Supreme Court’s 2019 judgment. The case, which lasted just over a month, saw the Centre eventually informing the court that it was working on a final resolution.

On Monday, appearing for the Central government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that since the Union now holds a 49% equity stake in the company, it has agreed to reconsider the reassessment issues raised by Vodafone Idea.

Investors cheered the decision, with Vodafone Idea’s shares rising 9% intraday. By 3:00 p.m., the stock had pared some gains, trading up 4.47% at ₹10.05 per share.

However, this isn’t the first time an SC order has raised hopes among Vodafone Idea’s investors. In May 2025, the Supreme Court dismissed petitions filed by Vodafone Idea seeking a waiver of interest, penalties, and interest on penalties related to its AGR dues. Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices had later joined the petition. The bench, led by Justices J. B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan, rejected the pleas, calling them “misconceived.”

Even so, experts said that ruling had opened the door for the government to assist Vodafone Idea through policy measures or reassessment of dues.