Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL), on Monday received a relief from the Supreme Court (SC) on the AGR (adjusted gross revenue) dues matter. The SC has ruled that the government, if it wants, can reconsider the issue of reassessment of the telco's AGR dues. This is because the matter falls within the policy domain of the union. The apex court also mentioned that this decision has been given keeping in mind about 20 crore customers of the telecom operator.
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The government has about 49% stake in Vodafone Idea Limited. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General, appearing on behalf of the government said, "The government has infused equity to the extent of 49%. There are 20 crore consumers. That was one of the reasons for which the government took this decision. The consumers would suffer … they have concerns, something duplicate billing, some over-invoicing etc, this what I have proposed."
A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai was hearing the matter on Monday. Gavai said, "We clarify that this is in the policy domain of the Union... there is no reason as to why that Union should be prevented from doing, with that view of the matter, we dispose of the writ petition."
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This can prove to be a major breakthrough for the telco, of course, if and when the government decides that it wants to reconsider the reassessment of the AGR dues. The government recently demanded more AGR dues from the telco. The government said that this amount had not been accounted for. This put a pressure on Vodafone Idea, and thus, the telco approached the Supreme Court for help. Vi's shares jumped more than 10% on Monday morning after this relief from the SC, however, it also crashed at the time of writing this and is only trading about 2.39% up from its previous closing price on Friday.
