Vodafone Idea Gains; Banks Ask Government To Ease Pressure On Company: Report

Shares of Vodafone Idea jumped as much as 13 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 8.99 after a report suggested that banks led by the country's largest lender State Bank of India asked the government to give debt-laden Vodafone Idea more time to clear its tax dues and spectrum fees. Banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) have called on the government to give Vodafone Idea more time to clear its tax dues and spectrum fees, news agency Reuters reported citing two bankers and a government official familiar with the matter said.

Last year a court ordered the mobile carrier, a joint venture between Vodafone Group and Idea Cellular, to pay just over $8 billion to the government to settle long-standing dues.

Vodafone has a stake of about 44 per cent in the company and Aditya Birla owns nearly 27 per cent.

In June, Vodafone Idea's then non-executive chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla warned that without a government reprieve the Indian mobile carrier's "financial situation will drive its operations to an irretrievable point of collapse".

Vodafone Idea's gross debt as of June 30 was Rs 1.9 lakh crore comprising of deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs 1.06 lakh crore and an adjusted gross revenue liability of Rs 62,180 crore, its latest stock exchange filing in June showed.

Vodafone Idea shares have so far this year dropped 15.5 per cent compared with a gain of over 20 per cent in the Sensex. Meanwhile, in today's session Vodafone Idea's call options surged following uptick in stock price. Vodafone Idea's Rs 8 strike price call option surged 123 per cent to Rs 1.45.

Trading volume in Vodafone Idea stock spiked as 20.5 crore shares changed hands on the BSE compared with an average of 15.4 crore shares traded daily in the past two weeks, data from BSE showed.

As of 1:43 pm, Vodafone Idea shares traded 11 per cent higher at Rs 8.85.