Indian telcos’ mobile growth weakens on coronavirus; remains robust: Fitch

NEW DELHI: Revenue and pre-tax profit growth of Indian telecom companies in the financial year ending March 31, 2021 (FY21) will slow due to lower data growth and weaker economic activity amid the coronavirus pandemic, Fitch Ratings said on Thursday.

“Notwithstanding the effect of the pandemic, we expect FY21 industry mobile service EBITDA to increase by about 15 per cent year-on-year, which will outperform our Indian GDP growth forecast of 0.8 per cent, as the industry will realise the full-year benefit of industry-wide tariff hikes of around 30 per cent, effective from December 2019,” the rating agency said in a note.