Vodafone AGR Case: Supreme Court To Hear Fresh Plea; Stock Rallies

Vodafone Idea's plea on fresh AGR dues is set to be heard in the Supreme Court next Friday. Following this news, the stock was up 5%. The Centre clarifies before the Supreme Court that it has no objection to Vodafone's plea.

The Supreme Court today briefly heard the plea by Vodafone Idea challenging the AGR demand of Rs 9,450 crores issued by the Department of Telecommunications, which was pending until financial year 2019.

The bench consisted of CJI BR Gavai, Justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria. The Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta says Centre is also a stakeholder and circumstances have changed now since now government also has a 50% stake. Mehta said that some solution needs to be arrived at and Court’s indulgence would be needed.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi for Vodafone argued that every mobile company has to pay for the license based on the revenue, the issue is if the company owns a hotel, it would be added to the mobile company revenue. Mehta however said that that’s not the issue here and sought adjournment from the court. Further, the bench of posted matter for next Friday.

VI stock rose as much as 4.97% during the day to Rs 8.23 apiece on the NSE. It was trading 4.59% higher at Rs 8.20 apiece, compared to an 0.54% decline in the benchmark Nifty 50 as of 12:05 a.m.

It had declined 19.73% in the last 12 months and 5.42% on a year-to-date basis. The total traded volume so far in the day stood at 1.7 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 62.7.

Four out of the 22 analysts tracking the company have a 'buy' rating on the stock, six recommend a 'hold' and 12 suggest a 'sell', according to Bloomberg data. The 12-month analysts' consensus target price on the stock is Rs 7.15, implying a downside of 13.4%.