Bharti Airtel shares stage marginal recovery; Vodafone Idea dips 9 pc

A day after clocking bountiful gains, telecom companies' shares closed on a mixed note on Tuesday.

Bharti Airtel shares logged a marginal 0.09 per cent gain to settle the day at Rs 458.95 a unit on the BSE. The stock fell 2.84 per cent in intra-day trade before staging a recovery. The operator's shares had hit 52-week high on Monday.

On the NSE, the telco's shares closed at Rs 460.85 apiece, up 0.49 per cent.

While Vodafone Idea shares dived 9.50 per cent to end at Rs 7.05 apiece on the BSE. Intra-day, the stock plummeted 13.73 per cent to hit a low of Rs 6.72.

On the NSE, its shares settled 7.69 per cent down at Rs 7.20 per unit. During the day, the scrip nosedived 14.10 per cent.

Shares of Vodafone Idea on Monday closed higher by 14.06 per cent and those of Bharti Airtel by 4.12 per cent.

With Moody's saying AGR dues are credit negative for the telecom operator, the shares of telecom companies came under selling pressure.

Indian telecom industry's competitive dynamics as also the financial health of Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Idea Ltd will be impacted if the companies are to pay past statutory dues arising out of a Supreme Court ruling, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday.

Adjusted gross revenue dues on Bharti Airtel are credit negative for the telecom operator despite a two-year moratorium given by the government on spectrum payment and the firm's plan to raise mobile call and data charges.

According to data from the government, the liabilities in the case of Bharti Airtel add up to nearly Rs 35,586 crore, of which Rs 21,682 crore is licence fee and another Rs 13,904.01 crore is the spectrum usage charge due (excluding the dues of Telenor and Tata Teleservices).

"If Bharti and Vodafone are required to make their payments immediately and in full, it will likely have fundamental implications for the financial health and competitive dynamics of the Indian telecommunications industry," Moody's said.

In an affidavit filed earlier in the Supreme Court, the DoT said that Airtel owed Rs 21,682.13 crore as licence fee to the government and dues from Vodafone totalled Rs 19,823.71 crore.