The Supreme Court has yet again deferred the hearing of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues hearing of Vodafone Idea (Vi). The original hearing date was set as September 19, and then was pushed to September 26, and then to October 6, 2025. Now, the apex court of the country has pushed the hearing to a new date.
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Vodafone Idea (Vi) will have to wait for hearing till October 13, 2025, for a hearing on the matter. The third-largest telecom operator has challenged the additional AGR dues demand raised by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The Supreme Court had commented on the matter saying that some finality must come around the matter.
The fight between Vodafone Idea and the Government of India (GoI) has been going on for too long. The Supreme Court had last time said that it won't entertain any recalculation requests from the telcos. However, this time, Vi has not approached the court for a recalculation plea. Instead, they have challenged the additional AGR dues demand from the government of India.
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AGR dues have been a huge pain for Vodafone Idea. The telco owes the government several thousand crores in AGR dues, and the payment for that will start at the end of this financial year. However, Vi doesn't have the required cashflow to keep paying the deferred AGR dues comfortably. The decision from the government is not in the interest of the sector, as Vi is already struggling, and more dues will only worsen the problem. Vodafone Idea hasn't also been able to raise the funds from the market yet. And that is why it is going to be hard for the telco to continue with increased capex (capital expenditure) spendings.
