Before it's too late

Govt must stick to its stand on Vodafone Idea

Last year, the Union government had cleared a relief package for the financially stressed telecom sector to prevent the industry from slipping into a duopoly. The objective of that package will be lost if the government fails to stick to its stand on converting Vodafone Idea’s interest dues into equity. As part of the reform package, telcos were given the option of converting part of their dues into government equity, and Vodafone Idea opted for it. With that, around Rs 16,100 crore of the telco’s interest dues were to be converted into a 33 per cent government stake in Vodafone