Vodafone Idea Ltd. has asked domestic lenders to provide a No Objection Certificate in order to bring in new investors as part of the proposed fundraise, according to people in the know.
While the company has not discussed any specific investors, they seem confident in its fund-raising plans, they added. The investors could be from outside India, the people said.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Vodafone Idea had picked investment banks to proceed with a fund-raising plan.
The cash-strapped telecom company has already received shareholders' nods to raise Rs 20,000 crore via equity. The company has earlier approved a fund raise of Rs 45,000 through a combination of debt and equity.
The board of Vodafone Idea is set to meet on Saturday to consider a proposal for the issuance of shares/convertible securities worth Rs 2,075 crore to promoters, according to an exchange filing.
The banks are likely to give NOC to ensure adequate fund raising, the people mentioned above added.
E-mail queries sent to the company remain unanswered.
The total gross debt, excluding lease liabilities and including interest accrued, stood at Rs 2.14 lakh crore as of Dec. 31—90% of which is owed to the government.
The moratorium on AGR dues is set to be lifted from FY26, taking the annual debt payment for the company to nearly 30,000 crore.
There are ongoing conversations with the government to defer these dues beyond FY26, the abovementioned people said. However, they added that fund-raising remains crucial to the deferment of these dues.
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