Telecom stocks in action after SC agrees to hear AGR payment plea

Shares of three telecom firms were in action after the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear the modification plea filed by telecom operators on giving them more time to pay off adjusted gross revenue (AGR) related dues.

Vodafone Idea (up 15..43%) and Bharti Infratel (up 6.92%) advanced. Telecom major Bharti Airtel slipped 0.19%.

The telecom operators had filed the modification plea in the Supreme Court on Monday (20 January), seeking more time to pay AGR dues to the government. The deadline to pay off AGR dues is 23 January.

The media reported that the development will allow telecom operators to negotiate a sustainable payment schedule for AGR dues. The Cellular Operators Association of India had earlier sought a 14-year period to pay off these dues.

The apex court last week dismissed pleas of these operators to review its earlier judgement that had asked telecom operators to pay more than Rs 1 lakh crore in AGR dues.

According to reports, Bharti Airtel has to pay Rs 35,586 crore to the government while Vodafone Idea owes Rs 50,000 crore.

In December 2019, Vodafone Idea's chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said the company will shut shop if there is no government relief. Birla was responding to a query, posed at an event, about the company's course of action going forward in the absence of government relief. Birla said the Aditya Birla Group will not invest any money in the company in the absence of relief from the government. Birla said the company will have to opt for insolvency route in the absence of relief.

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