FIIs not gung-ho about India’s telecom story; cut stake in Airtel, Vodafone Idea

MUMBAI: While the telecom sector has emerged as a hot theme for India in recent times, foreign funds seem to think otherwise as they have reduced their stake in top two pure-play telecom players in the country – Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have cut their stake in Bharti Airtel by 258 basis points (bps) to 17.57 per cent – the lowest in four quarters.

They also continued to reduce their stake in Vodafone Idea – this time by 99 bps to 6.20 per cent – the lowest in at least six quarters. At the end of June 2019, they held 15.67 per cent stake in the cash-strapped telco.