Any additional relief for Vodafone Idea (Vi) on its adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues will be decided collectively by the Union Cabinet, involving the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Finance Ministry, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar has reportedly said.
The telecom department is not contemplating providing any relief to Vodafone Idea with regard to adjusted gross revenue, Minister of State for Communications said on Monday, according to a PTI report.
“See, we have recently converted a lot of their debt into equity. Government has done whatever we thought we could do and at this time we don’t have any discussion or plan to change other than what we have done,” Sekhar told Moneycontrol, adding that the matter is too significant to be decided by any single ministry or official.
Sekhar underlined that the matter is far larger than the remit of any single ministry. “This is not something one person can [decide]. The discussion with the Cabinet, Modi ji, Finance Ministry, Union minister Scindia ji — all of them have to sit together and discuss these things. This is not a small amount of money to be decided by any one individual. At this moment, there is nothing.”
However, reports suggest the DoT has proposed “multiple relief options” to the PMO for consideration, including a fresh two-year moratorium on AGR payments, smaller annual instalments and a waiver of penalties and interest.
Vodafone Idea’s dues
Vodafone Idea currently owes about Rs 83,400 crore in AGR dues, with annual payments of Rs 18,000 crore scheduled to resume from March 2026. Its total liabilities to the government, including spectrum and other dues, are estimated at nearly Rs 2 trillion. The company has repeatedly warned that banks remain reluctant to extend credit without clarity on statutory obligations.
The government converted Rs 53,083 crore of Vi’s dues into equity in two tranches in February 2023 and April 2024, becoming the largest shareholder with around 49 percent stake. Despite this, the company continues to face severe liquidity stress.
On the company’s survival, the minister reportedly said: “That is not up to me to decide… every company, all the companies, are continuously reaching out for various reasons, they will also be continuously reaching. But at this time, the discussion — there is nothing that we have planned.”
Vi seeks waiver of interest and penalties
In an April 17 letter to the DoT, Vi urged that Rs 17,213 crore — the principal amount calculated up to FY19 — be treated as final and that all interest and penalties be waived. Former CEO Akshay Moondra reiterated during the company’s August earnings call that an early resolution on AGR dues was critical to securing bank funding. He added that Vi was exploring non-bank financing options to meet its capital expenditure requirements.
“What the banks are currently looking for is some clarity on the AGR front. So that is where we are engaged with the government, given that the government has made the conversion, they are today the largest stakeholder in the company…whether as an equity holder or any dues which are owed to any external party, we are quite confident that there will be a solution to AGR,” Moondra said, according to the report.
The operator, which has 198 million subscribers, owed Rs 1,944.5 crore to banks as of June-end.
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