Vi unlikely to get further relief

The government is not keen on giving further relief to Vodafone Idea (Vi) in the form of relaxed or extended payment schedule for the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) amount due from FY26 onwards, according to officials.

- GULVEEN AULAKH

While discussions with the country's third-largest telecom player are ongoing, giving further financial leeway is becoming increasingly difficult, an official at the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said. To be specific, the government is not willing to convert more dues into equity and cannot reduce the ₹84,000 crore AGR amount owed by the company.

"The government has already taken equity. The idea was to give the company enough time to get back on its feet during the moratorium period. It's been four years since, but there hasn't been any expected outcome," the official said.

Any further extension in payment terms would require a policy-level change, which would make the options available to all operators, another official said.

Bharti Airtel, for instance, has already sought the same conversion of dues to equity as Vi.

"There may be some payment terms being proposed (by the company), but the question remains whether they'll be able to honour those payments," the official added.