Telecom stocks rally; Vodafone Idea surges 17%, Bharti Airtel up 2%

Telecom stocks advanced at the bourses in Friday’s trade, led by Vodafone Idea which surged as high as 17.45 per cent to Rs 10.43 on the BSE. The S&P BSE Telecom index, up 3.44 per cent, was the top sectoral gainer at 11:30 AM. In comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was trading 0.8 per cent higher.

Among other individual stocks, Bharti Infratel rose 6.75 per cent to Rs 213.35 while Bharti Airtel gained 2.86 per cent to Rs 525.65. Reliance Industries, meanwhile, was trading 0.9 per cent higher at Rs 2,131.

The telecom companies are awaiting the Supreme Court’s judgement in the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) case. After several rounds of hearings, the apex court had, on Monday, reserved its judgment in the case. On the last day of hearing, the court had observed that if telecom companies are unwilling to pay their dues, it would direct the Union government to cancel their spectrum allocation and licence.