Mumbai: On Monday, Vodafone Idea shares dropped sharply by nearly 9 per cent after the Supreme Court rejected the requests of major telecom companies to waive their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. The company’s stock closed at Rs 6.73 on the BSE, down by 8.68 per cent. At one point during the day, the stock had fallen over 12 per cent to Rs 6.47.
This big drop in share price caused Vodafone Idea’s market value to go down by around Rs 6,934 crore, bringing its total valuation to Rs 72,915 crore. Shares of other telecom-related firms also slipped, with Indus Towers falling 2.87 per cent and Tata Teleservices down 0.46 per cent.
The Supreme Court firmly dismissed the pleas filed by Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, and Tata Teleservices. These telecom companies were asking for a waiver on huge AGR dues, claiming there were mistakes and repeated entries in the calculations.
The bench, made up of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, said the pleas were "misconceived" and expressed shock at the petitions. They clearly told senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Vodafone, that the court would not interfere. The justices said they were "really disturbed" by such requests, especially coming from big multinational companies.
Even though the companies hoped the government would step in to help, the top court made it clear it wouldn’t stop the government’s actions but would not provide any legal relief either.
Vodafone Idea had asked for a waiver of about Rs 30,000 crore, which included interest, penalties, and charges on penalties. This request was based on claims of incorrect calculations. However, the Supreme Court had already rejected such pleas in July 2021.
