Vodafone Idea will close if government does not provide any relief, says KM Birla

Vodafone Idea will close its operations in India if government does t provide any relief, its chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said on Friday. Birla's statement raises doubts about Vodafone's future in India without AGR relief.

"We will have to shut shop," Birla said on a query about course of action for company going ahe in absence of government relief.

Birla indicated that his group will t invest any money in company in absence of relief from government.

"re is sense that good money should follow b money," he said.

Birla said company will have to opt for insolvency route in absence of relief

Last month, Vodafone CEO Nick Re h raised similar concerns hinting that mounting debt on Vodafone Idea could result in company's untimely exit from India market. Re h said that government needs to ease off on payment demands to ensure a future for Vodafone-Idea Ltd.

Supreme Court of India upheld government's position on including revenue from n-telecommunication businesses in calculating annual justed Gross Revenue (AGR) of telecom companies, a share of which has to be paid as license and spectrum fee to exchequer.

Vodafone Idea h said its ability to continue is dependent on obtaining relief from government and positive outcome of proposed legal remedy.

company is also in process of filing a review petition against Supreme Court order. joint-venture estimated liability of Rs 44,150 crore post apex court order and me a provision of Rs 25,680 crore in Q2 2019.

Days after posting a quarterly loss of Rs 50,921 crore amid concerns on its survival, Vodafone-India recently hiked its tariff rates by up to 50%.

(With PTI inputs)