Telecom Shares Fall As Supreme Court Rejects Plea To Recalculate Dues Owed To Centre

Shares of top telecom companies including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea dropped on Friday, July 23, after the Supreme Court rejected their appeal to consider the errors in adjusted gross revenue (AGR) calculations. Shares of Vodafone declined 9.7 per cent to hit their lowest level since October last year, while Bharti Airtel fell 2.6 per cent. (Also Read: Supreme Court Rejects Telecoms’ Plea To Recalculate Dues Owed To Centre )

On Friday, Bharti Airtel opened on the BSE at Rs 549, inching to an intra day high of Rs 560.50 and an intra day low of Rs 532.85, in the trading session so far. Shares of Bharti Airtel were last trading 0.60 per cent higher at Rs 549.80 on the BSE. 

Vodafone Idea opened on the NSE at Rs 9.35, inching to an intra day high of Rs 9.55 and an intra day low of Rs 7.90, in the session so far. Shares of Vodafone were last trading 7.03 per cent lower at Rs 8.60 on the NSE.

The telecom majors had moved the Supreme Court last year seeking modification in the court’s verdict in the AGR matter. The companies, hoping to reduce their liabilities, had argued that the country’s telecommunications department made mathematical errors while calculating their AGR dues. 

Bharti Airtel owed more than Rs 43,000 crore as AGR dues. Vodafone Idea’s balance payment exceeded ₹ 50,000 crore, according to the Department of Telecom.

The matter revolves around the definition of the adjusted gross revenue. Telecom firms pay a percentage of their revenues as a license fee to the government and their contention was that non-core businesses such as rent or income from the sale of handsets or roaming charges should not be included in the revenue of which they pay a percentage. The companies seek to pay on revenues earned only from their core business.