Vodafone Idea nears SBI loan approval for ₹45,000 crore capex plan
Vodafone Idea is close to securing SBI funding for its three-year ₹45,000 crore capex programme, subject to promoter-company guarantees and participation from other lenders. The funding would support 5G rollout across 17 priority circles.
What happened
Vodafone Idea is nearing SBI loan approval for its ₹45,000 crore capex plan after agreeing to promoter-company guarantees. SBI will disburse only after other
Key facts
- ₹35,000 crore fresh funding sought
- ₹45,000 crore three-year capex plan
- ₹25,000 crore funded bank facilities sought
- ₹10,000 crore non-funded credit line sought
- ₹6,400 crore long-term bank facilities secured in Q1FY27
- ₹9,000 crore equipment orders
- 17 priority circles for 5G rollout
- 25.64% combined promoter stake
- 49% Government of India stake
- ₹3,300 crore raised through non-convertible debentures
Why this matters
The proposed capex programme could create sizable partnership opportunities across network equipment, tower, fiber and managed-services suppliers if the multi-lender financing is finalized.
What to watch
- Formal SBI board approval and disclosed loan amount, interest rate, collateral, and covenant structure.
- Confirmation that other lenders have sanctioned their respective portions of the ₹45,000 crore programme.
- Timing and size of initial disbursements rather than headline loan approval alone.
- Promoter guarantee details and any incremental equity or support commitments.
- Quarterly capex run rate, 5G site rollout, and coverage expansion in the 17 priority circles.
- Subscriber additions/losses, mobile number portability trends, ARPU, and 4G/5G data-user mix.
- Competitor response from Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, including pricing, handset bundling, and accelerated rollout in Vodafone Idea priority markets.
- Tower-company tenancy additions and network-vendor order announcements.
- Secure promoter-company guarantees and finalize SBI credit terms.
- Obtain parallel facility approvals from the remaining consortium lenders.
- Sequence capex toward the 17 priority circles with the highest churn risk and monetization potential.
- Negotiate vendor financing, deferred-payment arrangements, and tower/network-sharing terms to stretch available capital.
- Use improved coverage selectively to push 4G-to-5G upgrades, premium data packs, and enterprise connectivity offerings.