Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Shares Rise Up To 5 Percent

Shares of telecom firms Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea were trading higher in early trade, ahead of hearing over review petitions filed by telecom companies against Supreme Court’s (SC) verdict on the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues. The hearing will be conducted in closed chambers of Supreme Court at 1:50 pm on Thursday. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea had called for an open court hearing.

Telecom companies, who have to pay pending AGR dues worth Rs 92,000 crore to the DoT by January 23, had sought urgent relief on SC’s verdict earlier this month. With the payment deadline approaching, telecom players have expressed their inability to pay AGR dues.

Ahead of the verdict, shares of the two telecom majors were trading higher, with Vodafone Idea stock rising 2.67%, followed by 1.55% rise in share price of Bharti Airtel.

Bharti Airtel stock price rose to the intraday high of Rs 476.75, rising 1.9% with 1.74 lakh and 81.40 lakh shares trading on BSE and NSE.

Similarly, Vodafone Idea share price rose 5.16%  intraday to Rs 6.31, with 158.79 lakh and 1404.35 lakh shares trading on both exchanges.

The review petitions will be heard ‘in-chamber’ by the same three-judge bench led by Justice Arun Mishra, which had delivered the October 24 order that backed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in the case. The other two members on the bench are Justices AA Nazeer and MR Shah.

Share price of Bharti Airtel has risen 3.15% in one week, 12.45% in one month and 55% in a year. Contrary to this, Vodafone shares have fallen 1.5% in a week, 6.81% in 30 days and 72% during last one year.―Business Today