A promoter group entity of Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) has assured assistance of Rs 2,000 crore to the company, if it requires financial support to meet the impending payment obligations, stated a regulatory filing made by the telecom operator on August 14.
The identity of the promoter group entity which has offered the financial assistance was not disclosed by the company.
"This is to inform that the company has received a communication from a promoter group entity confirming that in the event of any fund requirement for meeting its impending payment obligations by the company, it shall provide direct or indirect financial support to the extent of Rs 2,000 crore," VIL informed the stock exchanges.
The promoter groups of VIL include Pilani Investment and Industries Corporation, IGM Holdings, Oriana Investments Pte, and Elaine Investments Pte.
In a separate regulatory filing, the stressed telco said it "has submitted a letter today to the Department of Telecommunications", proposing to pay "spectrum auction instalment of Rs 1,680 crore, which is due on 17th August 2023 to DoT, by availing the grace period of 30 days with interest".
VIL, notably, had ended FY23 with Rs 2.09 lakh crore of net debt. As per company data, its debt to banks and financial institutions stood at Rs 11,390 crore in the March quarter. Of this, Rs 8,380.4 crore is payable by March 31, 2024.
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VIL on August 14 also released its financial results for the quarter ending June 2023, with the net loss widening to Rs 7,840 crore. This was higher than a net loss of Rs 6,418.9 crore reported in the previous quarter, and Rs 7,295.7 crore reported in the year-ago period.
The consolidated revenue from operations in Q1FY24 came in at Rs 10,655.5 crore, which was marginally higher by 2.3 percent as against Rs 10,406 crore clocked in Q1FY23. The average revenue per user (ARPU) jumped from Rs 128 a year ago to Rs 139 in the June 2023 quarter.
Ahead of the release of the quarterly results, VIL's shares settled at Rs 8.04 apiece in the trading session on August 14, down by 0.86 percent as against the previous day's close.
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