The Supreme Court will hear a petition by Vodafone Idea Ltd. seeking quashing of the additional AGR demands for the period until 2016-17 this Friday, Sept. 19.
The company moved the apex court last week seeking a direction to the Department of Telecommunications to 'comprehensively re-assess and reconcile all AGR dues for the period up to fiscal 2016-17 following the 'Deduction Verification Guidelines' dated Feb. 3, 2020. It sought an early hearing on its petition.
In a setback to telecom majors including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, the Supreme Court in May refused to review its 2021 order rejecting their pleas to rectify alleged errors in the calculation of adjusted gross revenue dues. The telecom companies had argued that arithmetical errors in the calculation be rectified and there were cases of duplication of entries.
The top court in September 2020 fixed a time frame of 10 years for telecom service providers struggling to pay Rs 93,520 crore of AGR related dues to clear their outstanding amount to the government.
The AGR Dispute
The AGR issue dates back over a decade, involving a prolonged dispute between telecom companies and the government over the definition of adjusted gross revenue. In its 2019 ruling, the Supreme Court upheld the government's broader interpretation, which includes revenue from non-core operations. This dramatically increased the dues owed by several telecom operators.
In 2020, the apex court rejected any reassessment or recalculation of these dues and allowed the companies a 10-year window to pay them in installments, with interest.
The government has become the single largest shareholder in Vodafone Idea after acquiring shares worth Rs 36,950 crore in lieu of outstanding spectrum auction dues in March. Earlier, the government had acquired around 33% stake in 2023 in lieu of statutory dues worth over Rs 16,000 crore.
Vodafone Idea owes more than Rs 83,000 crore in AGR dues to the government at present — of which — the company has sought a waiver on Rs 45,000 crore.
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