Supreme Court dismisses AGR due waiver plea from Vodafone, Airtel, Tata Teleservices, says ‘not expected from MNC’

India's apex legal body, the Supreme Court, on Monday, 19 May 2025, dismissed the pleas from telecom majors like Vodafone Idea (VI), Bharti Airtel, and Tata Teleservices to waive the adjusted gross revenue or AGR dues, reported the news agency PTI. 

“We are really shocked by these petitions which have come before us. It is not expected of a multinational company. We will dismiss it,” a judicial bench comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan told senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi. Rohatgi is the lawyer appearing for Vodafone Idea, according to the news agency's report.

The judiciary bench also called the pleas “misconceived,” refusing to help the telcos from paying AGR dues to the Indian government. 

Vodafone Idea's AGR Dues

Telecom major Vodafone Idea on 15 May, 2025, filed a petition with the Supreme Court of India, asking for a ₹30,000 crore waiver on AGR dues, penalties and interest, according to an earlier Mint report.

In its plea, Vodafone argued that the government is “handicapped” in providing any relief to the companies due to the binding nature of the AGR judgement, and a hearing was set to be held on 19 May 2025.

Vodafone's advocate, Rohatgi, earlier said that the survival of the petitioner firm was important for maintaining competition in the Indian telecom sector. Apart from Vodafone Idea, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, BSNL, and MTNL are the ones with the majority market share. 

Vodafone, Reliance, and Airtel are the three biggest telcos in India, competing for higher market share in the industry.

The Indian government now holds a 49 per cent stake in Vodafone after a recent equity conversion over the AGR dues.

“The present writ petition does not seek review of the judgment but only seeks waiver of rigors of payment of interest, penalty and interest of penalty under the Judgment,” said Vodafone in the plea, according to the agency report.

This move from the telecom giant comes forth as an appeal to the Centre to act fair and in the public interest and not insist on the “payment of interest, penalty and interest on penalty on AGR dues,” according to the news report.

Vodafone Idea shares tanked 8.82 per cent to ₹6.72 as of the afternoon session of Monday's stock market, compared to ₹7.37 at the previous market close on Friday. The shares dropped after the news about the Supreme Court's dismissal decision was made public.