Vodafone UK’s Rs 2,000 cr capital infusion to help Vi settle Indus dues faster: Analysts

Vodafone Group’s plans to infuse fresh capital into Vodafone Idea (Vi) out of a portion of its Indus Towers stake sale proceeds will help the UK carrier’s Indian telecom joint venture to rapidly clear its dues to the telecom tower company, say analysts.

“Our base case has been that (Vi’s) remaining dues (to Indus) will be repaid in the coming 3 quarters from internal accruals, as has been done until now. However, with the infusion, it could accelerate to 1-2 quarters,” Axis Capital said in a research note seen by ET.

The brokerage added that in the last two quarters, Vi had paid Rs 800-1,000 crore towards its Indus dues. As a result, Indus has reduced the allowance for doubtful receivables relating to Vi to Rs 3548.4 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2024, from Rs 5385.3 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2024.


Since January 2023, Vi has been paying Indus 100% of its monthly billing, and periodically also its older dues.

UK’s Vodafone Group Plc is reckoned to have sold its remaining 3% stake in Indus Towers in a more than $300 million (Rs 2,540 crore) block deal, fully exiting the Indian tower company that is now a Bharti Airtel subsidiary. Apart from using the Indus stake sale proceeds to clear $101 million outstanding borrowings to its existing lenders, the UK carrier also plans to contribute some of the proceeds towards an issue of new equity shares by Vi, once the terms of such a capital raise have been evaluated and decided on by Vi’s board.

Vodafone Idea, on its part, has already informed stock exchanges of a board meeting on December 9 to consider a proposal for raising funds not exceeding Rs 2,000 crore by way of issuance to its co-promoter, the Vodafone Group.

JP Morgan said a potential clearing of a portion of Indus’ past dues to the extent of Rs 1,970 crore by Vi could result in a special dividend announced of Rs7.5/share in FY25 by the telecom tower company.

Shares of Indus were up 1.51% at Rs 364.15 in Thursday afternoon trade on BSE, while Vi shares were down 3.57% to Rs 8.11 on the exchange.