Vi jumps nearly 6% intraday on news of Rs 20,000 cr infusion

Shares of Vodafone Idea (Vi) jumped nearly 6% intra-day Monday amid news reports that global ecommerce giant Amazon and a clutch of global investors are in talks with the Aditya Birla Group to invest ₹20,000 crore into the loss-making telco. Vi shares eventually closed 4.14% higher at ₹9.30 on BSE.

According to the news reports, Vi would be using the cash to participate in the upcoming 5G spectrum auction. Earlier this month, Vi's managing director Ravinder Takkar had told ET that the telco is closer than it "has ever been" to tie up roughly ₹20,000 crore it needs from lenders and external investors to take on rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. He had also said that completion of the exercise to issue the company's shares to the government against interest on deferred statutory payment was also around the corner, and was the last box that needed to be checked before the external funding is finalised.