Govt slashes Vodafone Idea AGR dues by about 27% to Rs 64,046 crore, payment to start after 5 yrs

New Delhi: In a relief to debt-ridden Vodafone Idea, the government has slashed the adjusted gross revenue liability of the telecom company by about 27 per cent to Rs 64,046 crore after reassessing statutory dues, and has allowed a five-year moratorium on these payments.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) had formed a committee to reassess the adjusted gross revenue (AGR), which was fixed at Rs 87,695 crore as of December 31, 2025. The final amount, however, was subject to reassessment by the DoT and final approval by the committee.

Vodafone Idea, in an exchange filing on Thursday, said: "The DoT has informed that the Committee formed for the purpose has finalised the AGR dues at Rs 64,046 crore as on 31 December 2025." The company has to clear final dues in two sets spread over ten years, and the first payment is due after five years. It will need to pay a minimum of Rs 100 crore annually over four years from FY 2031-32 to FY 2034-35 and the remaining amount in six equal instalments annually from FY 2035-36 to FY 2040-41, the filing said.

The company, however, has to make an annual payment of Rs 124 crore towards AGR dues pertaining to FY2018 and FY2019 from March 2026 to March 2031. These dues were not part of the reassessment.

Following reassessment, Vi has to pay a minimum of Rs 100 crore annually over four years between March’ 2032 and March’ 2035. The remaining AGR dues have to be paid in equal instalments annually over six years, i.e. between March’ 36 and March’ 41 which will be Rs 10,608 crore annually.

The Union Cabinet on December 31 approved a major relief package for Vodafone Idea, freezing its outstanding AGR dues and granting a five-year moratorium on payment in a move to provide a critical lifeline to the beleaguered telco.

The move followed a favourable order VIL got from the Supreme Court, which allowed the government to reconsider and take an appropriate decision with reference to the additional AGR demand raised for the period up to the financial year 2016-2017, and to comprehensively reassess and reconcile all AGR (adjusted gross revenue) dues, including interest and penalty.

The relief measures approved by the Union Cabinet aim to protect the interest of the government (which has about 48.9 per cent stake in the telco), enable orderly payment of dues to the Centre by way of spectrum auction charges and AGR dues, ensure competition in the sector and safeguard the interests of around 20 crore consumers of Vodafone Idea.

AGR dues refer to payments owed by telecom companies to the government based on Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR). It is the revenue on which telecom operators must pay license fees and spectrum usage charges.

As per the relief package, AGR dues for FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19, which were finalised based on the Supreme Court order of September 2020, will now have to be paid over 2025-26 to 2030-31 fiscal without any change, they said.

Vodafone Idea has been battling a prolonged financial crisis, driven by intense price competition, high debt, and massive AGR liabilities that arose from a change in the definition of AGR.

The company has struggled with persistent losses, a shrinking subscriber base, and limited ability to invest in network expansion, even as rivals accelerated 4G and 5G rollouts.

The Group incurred a loss of Rs 17,418 crore during the nine months ended December 31, 2025, and its net worth stood at negative Rs 87,744 crore. The company's total debt stood at Rs 2.09 lakh crore as of December 31, 2025.

After recording a decline in subscriber base in the last few years, the company has shown improvement in subscriber addition in February and March. The telco has added over 1 lakh mobile subscribers in March, according to the latest Trai report.