Supreme Court Ruling Shakes Telecom Stocks

Shares of Vodafone Idea and Indus Towers suffered significant losses as the Supreme Court dismissed their pleas regarding errors in adjusted gross revenue calculations. Vodafone Idea saw a 19.60% drop, while Indus Towers' shares fell by 8.86%. Bharti Airtel, however, ended slightly up after initial losses.

Shares of Vodafone Idea and Indus Towers tumbled on Thursday as the Supreme Court dismissed a batch of pleas filed by these companies, seeking correction of alleged errors in the adjusted gross revenue.

The stock of Vodafone Idea slumped 19.60 per cent to settle at Rs 10.38 on the BSE. During the day, it dropped 22.15 per cent to hit a 52-week low of Rs 10.05.

Shares of Indus Towers tanked 8.86 per cent to Rs 389.65. Intra-day, the stock plummeted 14.32 per cent to Rs 366.30.

Bharti Airtel, however, ended 0.75 per cent higher at Rs 1,665.05 after falling 0.36 per cent to Rs 1,646.65 in intra-day.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai also rejected the plea of telcos seeking to list the curative petitions for open court hearing.

A curative petition is the last legal recourse in the apex court and is generally considered in-chamber unless a prima facie case is made out for reconsideration of the verdict.

On October 9 last year, the top court had taken note of submissions of some telecommunication companies seeking listing of their pleas on Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) due issue.

The telcos had referred to alleged errors in the arithmetic calculation for arriving at the AGR-related dues by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

(With inputs from agencies.)