Vodafone Idea bank guarantees unlikely to be invoked for now

NEW DELHI: The government is unlikely to invoke Vodafone Idea’s bank guarantees for now, even as the officials of the telecom and finance ministries met Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba to discuss ways to ensure that the sector retains three private players, officials said.

“First round of meetings happened on Tuesday… Government could consider postponing or staggering other payments due to it, in order to give some flexibility to telcos to cough up money towards AGR (adjusted gross revenue) dues,” said an official. “These are just very initial discussions.”