Vodafone Idea ‘repays’ significant chunk of Rs 4,300 crore loans

KOLKATA & MUMBAI: Vodafone Idea is said to have repaid a sizeable chunk of the almost Rs 4,300 crore of loans due to be cleared in this financial year using a portion of its Rs 25,000 crore rights issue proceeds, people familiar with the matter said.

The repayments will help the telecom market leader reduce its net finance costs and free up capital for expanding its 4G network to combat Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel, analysts said.

Vodafone Idea is learnt to have concluded repayment of three rupee-denominated domestic loans — Rs 300 crore to Axis Bank and an aggregate of Rs 3,210 crore to State Bank of India. The repayments to SBI include a Rs 3,042.8 crore short-term loan cleared as a ‘bullet repayment’ following the rights issue and the first Rs 167 crore instalment of a Rs 5,000 crore long-term loan, one of the people told ET.