MUMBAI: Vodafone India, a fully-owned subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc, raised rupee capital for its local units by selling rupee bonds to local investors. Three units of Vodafone raised Rs 7,500 crore in their first ever sale of rupee bonds. The group plans to use the money to retire existing debt, and fund expansion of local businesses in India, an official close to the matter said.
Among the units that reportedly borrowed money included Vodafone Spacetel that raised Rs 3,500 crore, Vodafone Essar Cellular Rs 2,500 crore and Vodafone South Rs 1,500 crore. The company officials declined to comment.
The bonds are of five year maturity with a coupon of 10.25 per cent. HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank helped the company raise the funds.
Vodafone currently has more than 180 million customers in India across all the 22 telecom circles. The fund raisings come at a time as Mukesh Ambani unveiled ambitious plans for his group company, Reliance Jio.
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio telecom company plans to roll out services in telecommunication and digital segments by December.
It plans to offer a range of telecom, high speed data, digital commerce, media and payment services, and expects 4G smart phones to be available in India for Rs 4,000 by December.
Introduction of Jio’s services are expected to intensify the tariff war between telecom companies. Vodafone’s earlier avatar Hutchinson Telecom started offering services in India in the late 1990s, after opening offices in 1994.
