Voda Idea lenders fret over ‘too big to fail’ telco giant

MUMBAI: A day after Kumar Mangalam Birla’s letter warning that Vodafone Idea (VIL) may reach an “irretrievable point of collapse” became public, banks are worried about the fate of the telecom major which, they say, is “too big to fail”.

Lenders both Indian and global have an exposure of Rs 1.8 lakh crore. A large part of this is in the form of guarantees. Some private lenders with a funded exposure have already started making provisions. However, the bulk of the exposure is with public sector banks.

If Vodafone fails to repay its dues to the government and these guarantees are invoked, it would immediately turn into debt and would soon be classified as a non-performing asset.