Vodafone Idea zooms 16% on hope SC could extend AGR payment deadline

Shares of Vodafone Idea surged 16 per cent to Rs 5.70 on Tuesday, extending its Monday's 8 per cent gain on the BSE, amid hopes that the Supreme Court (SC) may extend the deadline for adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues payment of January 24, 2020.

On Friday, the stock of telecom services provider tanked 25 per cent to level of Rs 4.51 after the SC rejected the review petition by Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel challenging the apex court's 24 October order on AGR.

Yesterday, Vodafone Idea and two other telecom operators filed a "modification application" in the SC seeking a change in the 90-day payment deadline for dues on account of AGR as well as permission to engage with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on the terms and timing of payment.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and the Tata group, including Hughes Telecom (which was later named TTSL Maharashtra), have requested the apex court to list their petition for urgent hearing on Tuesday, because the deadline for them to pay Rs 1.47 trillion as AGR ends on January 24.

The court, on October 24 last year, had ordered telecom companies to pay their licence fees and spectrum user charges (SUCs) within 90 days.

Failure to get relief would put the industry in major financial stress and, analysts say, could mean the end of the road for Vodafone Idea, which is highly leveraged and has made it clear that it will have no choice but to close down operations.

The four companies appealing before the highest court have to fork out Rs 1,05,228 crore, based on the telecom department’s calculations. Vodafone Idea has to pay the most: Rs 53,000 crore.

At 10 AM, Vodafone Idea was trading 15.43 per cent higher at Rs 5.61 as compared to the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex which was down 0.12 per cent. Almost 240 million shares have changed hands on the BSE and NSE so far.

Meanwhile, shares of Bharti Airtel fluctuated between gains and losses. At 10 AM, the stock was trading 0.37 per cent lower at Rs 507.35.