Bharti Airtel Gains, Vodafone Idea Nosedives After Supreme Court Rejects AGR Review Plea

Telecom stocks had a mixed closing a day after the Supreme Court dismissed the  Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) review petitions filed by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and others. Bharti Airtel strengthened by 5.4 per cent at Rs 500, while Vodafone Idea nosedived by 25 per cent at Rs 4.5. (Also Read: Telecom Companies To Pay Rs 92,000 Crore As Dues To Government; Top Court Rejects Plea For Review)

In a major setback for mobile service providers, the Supreme Court on Thursday had rejected telecom companies' plea seeking a review of its earlier order that allowed the government to collect dues worth Rs 92,000 crore from them.

In October, the Supreme Court had upheld the telecom department's demand that wireless carriers pay Rs 92,000 crore in overdue levies and interest, and had given the telecom operators three months' time to clear their dues with the telecom department.

It may be recollected that the telecom department claimed dues of around Rs 92,000 crore as license fee and Rs 41,000 crore as spectrum usage fee from Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Communications (RCom). According to the telecom department, Bharti Airtel owed around Rs 23,000 crore, Vodafone Idea Rs 19,823.71 crore and Reliance Communications Rs 16,456.47 crore. Reliance Communications had shut down voice operations in December 2017 and filed for bankruptcy last year.

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty ended on a flat note; The Sensex ended at 41,945, up 13 points and Nifty 50 index closed 3 points lower at 12,352.