Four-year moratorium was granted on the annual payments of dues arising out of the AGR judgement and dues pertaining to the period up to FY19
Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues of major telecom companies including Bharti Airtel (Airtel), Vodafone Idea (VIL), Reliance Jio (Jio), MTNL and Tata Group stand at ₹1,66,825 crore as of March 31, 2025, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
The private telcos need to clear these dues in six equal instalments before March 31, 2026.
Financial stress
In response to questions in Lok Sabha, Pemmsani Chandra Sekhar, Minister of State for Communications, said to address the issue of financial stress in the telecom sector, the government introduced a series of structural and procedural reforms in September, 2021. These were aimed at promoting healthy competition, protecting consumer interests, infusing liquidity, encouraging investment, and reducing the regulatory burden on telecom service providers (TSPs).
“These included a moratorium of up to four years in annual payments of dues arising out of the AGR judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and spectrum purchased in auctions held before 2021. Option to the TSPs to pay the interest amount arising due to the said deferment of payment by way of equity was also given. Further, at the option of the government and based on the prevailing situation, the outstanding amount of post-moratorium instalments may be converted into equity,” he said.
As of March 31, 2025, he informed Airtel has dues of ₹48,103 crore. Similarly, Tata Group (TTSL and TTML, which is part of Airtel now) has dues amounting to ₹19,259 crore and VIL has ₹84,933 crore.
“A four-year moratorium was granted on the annual payments of dues arising out of the AGR judgement and dues pertaining to the period up to FY19. The pending dues are to be paid in six annual instalments, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the moratorium, as opted by the companies. The pending dues beyond FY20 are under dispute/litigation,” he informed to a query by MP Matheswaran VS.
Also, Jio with dues of ₹1,746 crore, which is also under litigation, and MTNL that has AGR dues of ₹12,780 crore, are to be examined by a Committee of Secretaries for further action as per Cabinet decision in July, 2022, the Communication Minister said.
Meanwhile, Airtel on Wednesday said it will abide by whatever decision that the government takes on the AGR issues.
“We have written to the government to extend the same relief as to any other telco and that is the decision that government has to take… we will abide by the decision that they take to the extent that we have the room to make whatever payments are required,” Gopal Vittal, Vice- Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, said at a post earnings call with analysts after its Q1 results.
Published on August 6, 2025