Vodafone Idea Surges Nearly 50% On Heavy Volumes

Vodafone Idea shares surged in afternoon trades on the back of heavy trading volumes. The shares surged as much as as much as 48 per cent to hit an intra-day high of Rs 4.49 on the BSE. And on NSE, Vodafone Idea's share price jumped as much as 48.33 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 4.45. With today's surge in Vodafone Idea's shares, the market capitalisation of the company rose to Rs 12,902 crore (at day's high), compared with Rs 8,707 crore as of Tuesday's close. As many as 10.38 crore shares changed hands on the BSE compared with an average of 6.33 crore shares traded daily in the past two weeks.

Telecom companies have been under pressure to pay dues in adjusted gross revenue worth crores of rupees to the department of telecommunications.

Vodafone Idea's shares have plunged 51 per cent so far this year till yesterday, to massively under-perform the Sensex which is down nearly 1 per cent during the period.

Meanwhile, the exchange has sought clarification from Vodafone Idea with reference to significant movement in price, in order to ensure that investors have latest relevant information about the company.

Earlier this week, on Monday, Vodafone Idea paid Rs 2,500 crore, a portion of its statutory dues, to the telecom department. The company also said that it will pay another Rs 1,000 crore before the end of the week.

In October, the Supreme Court had upheld the telecom department's demand that wireless carriers pay Rs 92,000 crore in overdue levies and interest, and had given the telecom operators three months' time to clear their dues with the telecom department.

Vodafone Idea has dues worth Rs 53,000 crore, which includes up to Rs 24,729 crore of spectrum dues and another Rs 28,309 crore in licence fee.

As of 1:21 pm, Vodafone Idea traded 32 per cent higher at Rs 4.01 per share.