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Highlights
- Vodafone Idea Limited, the third largest telecom operator in India, has been in discussions with the banks to raise money via debt.
- The State Bank of India (SBI) led banks consortium has been wary of exposing themselves to Vi, which has been struggling to grow business in India.
- The management of Vodafone Idea said that they are expecting to close debt funding from banks soon.
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Stephen Rose
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Vodafone Idea Limited, the third largest telecom operator in India, has been in discussions with the banks to raise money via debt. The State Bank of India (SBI) led banks consortium has been wary of exposing themselves to Vi, which has been struggling to grow business in India. The management of Vodafone Idea said that they are expecting to close debt funding from banks soon. Vi will use these funds to fuel its capex (capital expenditure) of Rs 45,000 outlined for the next three years.
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Vodafone Idea Raised Rs 6400 Crore Already
Abhijit Kishore, CEO of Vodafone Idea, said that they have already raised Rs 6,400 crore as the first tranche of funds, including Rs 1,183 crore from warrants and debt proceeds through ECB and Indian private banks.
Vodafone Idea is also looking at other avenues apart from banks to raise debt. What is noteworthy is that Vi has also placed fresh orders for network equipment worth Rs 9,000 crore. Out of this, equipment worth Rs 1,930 crore has already been deployed in June 2026 quarter.
“We have already placed the order for Rs 9,100 crore, which includes the Rs 1,930 crore of the capex, which has been deployed. We intend to deploy all of this capex in less than two quarters. We are looking at deploying roughly around 3,500 sites a month on an average here on 4G,” said Kishore at the earnings call of Vi for Q1 FY27.
To execute its capex plan of Rs 45,000 crore, Vi will have to raise funds from investors as well as banks. The Aditya Birla Group (ABG) infused more capital into the telco recently through one of its entities. The amount was Rs 4,730 crore, which is about $500 million.
