Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) may be forced to delay plans to raise ₹25,000 crore by way of debt as lenders are waiting to see the government’s response to the telecom company’s plea for some reduction in the payback of its legacy dues.

In September, the Supreme Court had dismissed petitions filed by telecom companies seeking a retabulation of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues to weed out errors that it claimed had crept into the calculations.

“We have engaged with our promoters and the banks. Those discussions are still on. After the court dismissed our curative petition, everybody is in a wait and watch mode to see how things evolve,” said Vodafone Idea chief executive Akshaya Moondra on Thursday at the company’s earnings call for the quarter ended September 30.

Moondra said any anticipated relief from the Centre on its AGR liabilities would not form part of the business plan that was submitted to the banks. An external agency has carried out a techno-economic evaluation of the business plan and submitted its report to the lenders.

“As any interested party, lenders are waiting to see what happens on the AGR issue. We should be able to close once clarity emerges,” Moondra said.

VIL has held several meetings with officials from the Centre, which has professed its commitment to ensure that the telecom industry has at least three competitive players from the private sector.

VIL had asked the Supreme Court to recall its 2019 order that directed it to pay AGR dues worth ₹1.47 lakh crore to the telecom department.

On September 1, 2021, the apex court had allowed the telecom operators to pay their dues over a 10-year period, modifying its 2019 order that had asked them to pay it in one go. Debt funding is a significant part of its plan to strengthen the existing 4G network and launch 5G operations.