diff --git a/internal/pkg/application/service.go b/internal/pkg/application/service.go
index 38d41c2..2c16f29 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/application/service.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/application/service.go
@@ -1054,7 +1054,10 @@
 		vs.DeactivateInProgress = oper.DeactivateInProgress
 		vs.BwAvailInfo = oper.BwAvailInfo
 		vs.Device = oper.Device
-		vs.FlowPushCount = cfg.FlowPushCount
+		// FlowPushCount is newly introduced map and it can be nil when VGC is upgraded. Hence adding a nil check to handle backward compatibility
+		if cfg.FlowPushCount != nil {
+			vs.FlowPushCount = cfg.FlowPushCount
+		}
 		vs.ServiceDeactivateReason = cfg.ServiceDeactivateReason
 	} else {
 		// Sorting Pbit from highest