Vi challenges DoT’s additional AGR demand

Vi faces an overall debt of ₹1.7 lakh crore
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REUTERS

Vodafone Idea has filed a fresh petition with the Supreme Court to reconsider additional Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) demands issued by the Department of Telecom calling the same as “erroneous and riddled with clerical and arithmetical errors.”

In a writ petition, the private telco asked the court to quash the additional AGR demands issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and re-assess dues following the “Deduction Verification Guidelines.” Businessline reached out for a comment from Vi however the company declined to comment.

According to Mahwash Fatima, a public policy manager at The Quantum Hub consulting firm, the current writ petition challenges a fresh demand by DoT which goes beyond the apex court’s earlier judgement. However, the likelihood of this plea being entertained by the court is negligible, said Fatima, as the court had earlier said it will not get involved in the matter any further.

crystalized AFR dues 

While furnishing the dues for each telecom service provider in its earlier affidavit, the DoT had said, “All dues are subject to further revisions due to departmental assessments, CAG Audits, Special Audits, Court cases, etc.” However, the top court had “crystalized” the AFR dues for Vi as ₹58,254 crores for the period up to 2016-17.

“This Court had delivered a detailed Judgment on the computation of AGR and had crystalized all liabilities on the Peitioner uptil 2016-17. This court prohibited any re-assessment of the AGR dues as crystallized. By this Order, the AGR liability of the Petitioner was crystallized at ₹58,254 Crores uptil FY 2016-17,” said Vi in its petition. Accordingly, it asked the court that the DoT not change the demand or make a fair settlement and review the entire dues.

The company said it was relying upon the 2020 guidelines for seeking correction of the AGR demands. However, the government made the Guidelines applicable from FY 2019-20 onwards, prohibiting any reconciliation of demands for FYs 2017-18 and 2018-19 also.

“The [government] abruptly and arbitrarily “clarified” that the Guidelines/Clarifications towards deduction verification FY 2019-20 onwards, whereas it should have been made applicable from FY 2017- 18 onwards,” said Vi in its plea.

Vi said that the court cannot unilaterally raise additional AGR demands uptil FY/ 2016-17, without first correcting the errors in the demands already raised.

Vi faces an overall debt of ₹1.7 lakh crore. Under a deferred payment scheme, Vi has to pay annual AGR payments of ₹18,000 crore starting FY26, which is nearly twice its current operational cash generation of ₹9,200 crore. The government earlier increased its share upto 49 per cent after the company converted debt worth ₹36,950 crore to equity. Later, Vi looked at non-banking sources of funding, as its earlier plans to raise ₹25,000 crore from banks hit roadblocks.

Published on September 9, 2025