Vodafone-Idea gets new branding: 5 biggest takeaways

Vodafone Idea has launched a unified brand ‘Vi’ as the company aims to wrest new customers from rivals Reliance Jio and Airtel. Vodafone Idea, the joint venture between Britain’s Vodafone Group and India’s Idea Cellular, will now go by the brand name ‘Vi’. The company’s top executives addressed the media today in a virtual briefing, where they spoke about the new integrated branding for Vodafone and Idea Cellular and more. Here are the key takeaways…
Vodafone is here to stay
The biggest message from the integrated branding is that Vodafone-Idea is here to stay. The telco said it plans to raise funds of up to Rs 25,000 crore via a mix of debt and equity instruments, which will be used to pay statutory government dues as well as invest in network operations. The cash-strapped company has been under severe financial stress, with some analysts earlier even cautioning that the company’s longer-term viability is under cloud. In December 2019, Vodafone Idea chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla had said VIL may have to shut if there is no relief on statutory dues. The company reported Rs 73,878 crore of net loss for the fiscal ended March 2020, highest ever by any Indian firm, after it provisioned for Supreme Court mandated statutory dues.