Vodafone Idea's (Vi) shares experienced a surge in early trading today, ahead of a crucial Supreme Court hearing concerning the company's Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues. The hearing, scheduled for today, October 27, 2025, involves Vi's plea seeking the quashing of additional AGR demands from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for the period up to 2016-17.

Early trading saw Vodafone Idea's share price open higher at ₹9.63 on the BSE, compared to its previous close of ₹9.62. The stock further gained as much as 1.87% to an intraday high of ₹9.80 apiece. Recently, on October 24, 2025, Vi's stock was trading higher for the fourth straight day, surging 10% to ₹9.62, nearing its 52-week high of ₹10.48, touched on January 20, 2025.

The Supreme Court bench, comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai, Justice K Vinod Chandran, and Justice Vipul M Pancholi, will hear Vodafone Idea's plea as the court resumes work after the Diwali vacation. The hearing had been adjourned on previous occasions at the request of both the telecom firm and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who is representing the Centre.

Vodafone Idea is challenging the DoT's demand for additional AGR dues of ₹5,606 crore for the period up to FY2016-17. AGR is a critical income figure that determines the license fees and spectrum charges telecom companies are obligated to pay the government. Vodafone Idea is demanding from the Supreme Court to quash DoT's demand for additional AGR of Rs 5,606 crore. Vodafone Idea has sought a direction to the DoT to "comprehensively re-assess and reconcile all AGR dues for the period up to FY 2016-17 following the 'Deduction Verification Guidelines'" dated February 3, 2020.

A key aspect of the case is the government's 49% equity stake in Vodafone Idea, resulting from the conversion of ₹36,950 crore of outstanding spectrum dues into equity. This makes the government a significant stakeholder in the company's survival. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had previously stated that the government's and public's interests are now intertwined with the company's survival.

Vodafone Idea has argued that the additional AGR demand by the DoT is unsustainable, as all liabilities were supposedly settled by the Supreme Court's 2019 judgment. The company claims that further demands would be a reopening of settled accounts. The disputed amount includes ₹2,774 crore pertaining to the post-merger Vodafone Idea entity and ₹5,675 crore related to pre-merger Vodafone Group liabilities.

The Supreme Court had earlier, in September 2020, provided a 10-year timeline for telecom service providers to clear ₹93,520 crore of AGR-related dues. This involved paying 10% of the total dues by March 31, 2021, and the remaining amount in yearly installments from April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2031. However, earlier this year, the Supreme Court rejected a review of its 2021 order, which had dismissed pleas from Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea for rectification of alleged errors in the calculation of AGR dues.

The market is closely watching the Supreme Court's hearing, as the outcome could significantly impact Vodafone Idea and the broader telecom sector.