India’s largest private lender, HDFC Bank, has extended a loan of Rs 2,000 crore to crisis-hit Vodafone Idea (Vi) to help the telecom firm in clearing its pending license fees and fulfilling its 5G spectrum payment commitments, according to a report by published by The Economic Times on Thursday.
The report said that loan tenure is of two years. The funds were disbursed during mid-September, just before the deadlines for some of Vi’s loan and statutory payment commitments.
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Vi has already paid more than Rs 350 crore for FY22 and FY23 in past licence fees and about Rs 1,700 crore toward spectrum usage charges (SUC). It is also in talks with investors for equity funding.
Vi’s promoter entity has assured help of Rs 2,000 crore to the company if the telco requires financial support to clear dues, a regulatory filing made by the telecom operator on August 14 said.
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As of June 30, 2023, Vi has reported gross debt of Rs 2.11 lakh crore. The company has paid all statutory dues till the second quarter of 2022-23 and is now clearing licence fees and SUC dues for the third quarter of the last fiscal year.
Chief Executive (CEO) Akshaya Moondra said that the promoters are committed to investing an extra Rs 2,000 crore in the company. This investment is expected to come in alongside external investments and will help the telco settle its spectrum dues by the end of March. Moondra expects that talks relating to equity investments will conclude this quarter.
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Last week, Vi logged a Q2 net loss at Rs 8737 crore against Rs 7595 crore in the same quarter last year. The revenue from operations stood at Rs 10,716 crore, rising 0.95 per cent from 10,614 crore in the corresponding quarter, the company said in an exchange filing. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) of the company rose from Rs 4,097 crore to Rs 4,282 crore. EBITDA margin improved 140 basis points year on year to 40 per cent.
