(Reuters) -India’s top court has rejected a request by telecom companies to recalculate the dues they owe the government, the Mint business daily reported on Friday.
The news sent shares of debt-saddled Vodafone Idea down 5.3%, while shares of telecom tower operator Indus Towers dropped about 4%. Analysts previously said a similar court decision would delay Indus Towers’ recovery of dues from Vodafone Idea.
The companies, in a last resort petition against a similar ruling by the top court in 2021, had argued that the telecom department made errors in calculating the so-called adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.
A similar appeal was rejected by India’s top court in September last year.
Telecom firms had long contested that only revenue accrued from core services should be taken into account when computing the dues, while the government argued that AGR should include non-core revenue as well, such as money from rent or land sales.
The Supreme Court, in 2019, ruled in favour of the government’s definition of AGR calculations.
The latest ruling is a setback for Vodafone Idea, which owes the government around 2.27 trillion rupees ($26.1 billion) in license fees and spectrum charges, according to its latest earnings statement.
The Indian government is also one of the largest shareholders in the company with a 23.15% stake.
($1 = 86.8580 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru)
