Vodafone Idea's Board to meet on Feb 27 to consider fundraising proposal

Telecom operator Vodafone Idea (VIL) said its board will meet on February 27 to consider fundraising proposals.

In a statutory filing, VIL said the board of directors will consider and evaluate all proposals for "raising of funds in one or more tranches by way of a rights issue, further public offer, private placement including preferential allotment, qualified institutions placement or through any other permissible mode and/or combination".

The fundraising could be through equity or debt instruments, the BSE filing said.

The capital raise could be by way of the issue of equity shares or by way of any instruments including "securities convertible into equity shares, Global Depository Receipts, American Depository Receipts or bonds including foreign currency convertible bonds, convertible debentures, warrants, and/or non-convertible debentures including non-convertible debentures along with warrants, which may or may not be listed".

"... The Board of Directors of Vodafone Idea Limited will be held on Tuesday that is 27 February, 2024, to consider and evaluate any and all proposals for raising of funds in one or more tranches...," it said.

Earlier today, billionaire industrialist and Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla had underlined the Group's firm commitment to the cash-strapped telco and asserted that efforts are on to rope in external investors.

On how soon such investors could be onboarded, Birla told PTI, "we are making good progress but can't put in a timeline."

"We remain very committed to Vodafone Idea, and like we have said in public domain, efforts are on to get outside investors," he had said, speaking at a conference here to mark the launch of the Group's decorative business.

Vodafone Idea saw its net loss narrow to Rs 6,986 crore for the December 2023 quarter, helped by Rs 755.5 crore one-time exceptional gain, while the average revenue per subscriber improved for the ailing telco.

VIL's net loss stood at Rs 7,990 crore in the year-ago period.

For the debt-laden telco—which has been struggling to keep up with the larger rivals like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel in the hugely competitive Indian telecom market—the revenue from operations remained nearly flat at Rs 10,673.1 crore year-on-year.

During the company's Q3 FY24 results, Vodafone Idea CEO Akshaya Moondra said, "We remain engaged with various parties for fundraising to make required investments for network expansion, including 5G roll-out."