Vodafone Idea expects AGR dues review outcome soon: CEO

Vodafone Idea CEO Abhijit Kishore says it is awaiting formal communication from the government on the timeline of reassessment

Customers stand in a queue outside the Vodafone-Idea mobile network service provider store in Mumbai File photo

Telecom service provider Vodafone India on Friday said that the reassessment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues is currently underway and is expected to be completed as soon as possible. Vodafone Idea Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abhijit Kishore, while speaking to reporters at the COAI Digicom Summit 2026 event, also mentioned that it is awaiting formal communication from the government on the timeline of reassessment.

“The reassessment is ongoing. We are just waiting… hopefully it should happen as soon as possible,” said Kishore.

After the Supreme Court asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to provide relief to the debt-laden Vodafone Idea, the DoT came up with relief measures that include freezing VIL’s AGR dues pertaining to the period from FY 2006–07 to FY 2018–19 at ₹87,695 crore as on 31 December 2025.

This amount excludes AGR dues for FY 2017–18 and FY 2018–19, which have already been finalised by the court. The frozen AGR dues as on 31 December 2025 will also be subject to reassessment by the DoT.

For reassessment, the government has constituted a committee comprising a retired Secretary-level officer of the Government of India and a representative of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), as nominated by the CAG, which will decide on the outcome of the reassessment by the telecom department.

The DoT recently extended the deadline for reassessing Vodafone Idea’s AGR dues by three months to June 30, as field units continue to face challenges in completing the exercise, according to sources.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Telecom Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said that the government is planning to launch a new Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) with a higher outlay by October.

Speaking at the COAI Digicom Summit 2026, he said the ministry has so far sanctioned around Rs 540 crore to more than 100 companies under the TTDF scheme, and many of them are in the 6G space.

"We are also coming up with a technology development fund with even more outlay and more co-funding mechanisms so that the fund really does what it's supposed to do," Pemmasani said.