India's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request by telecom companies including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel to recalculate how much they owe the government in licence fees. The long-standing issue has whittled away at debt-ridden Vodafone's cash flow and threatened its survival in the Indian telecom market which is dominated by Airtel and Reliance Industries' Jio.

The Supreme Court's rejection of Vodafone Idea's plea for relief on its AGR dues has caused a 10% drop in its shares, while Bharti Airtel's shares rose slightly. Vodafone Idea's plea included requests for error correction in the AGR demand,

Shares of Indian wireless carriers plunged on Thursday after the country’s top court rejected the firms’ request to re-calculate about $13 billion of past dues that they owe to the government.

India's top court on Thursday rejected a request by telecom companies to recalculate the dues they owed the government, sending shares of debt-saddled Vodafone Idea and its peers down. Analysts at ICRA estimate that Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel owe 1 trillion rupees ($12 billion) in past dues,

Supreme Court on Thursday turned down a request by telecom companies including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel to recalculate the amount they owe the government in licence fees. This has come to the fore in a court order.

The Supreme Court has dismissed pleas by telecom giants Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel to re-compute Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues. The companies sought corrections in the AGR calculations, a penalty reduction,