Bankers put cash-strapped Vodafone Idea's call for Rs 35K cr loan on hold

Fund-strapped telco says banks have completed techno-economic evaluation, a key step in debt funding process

Public-sector banks (PSBs) remain hesitant on providing loans to cash-strapped Vodafone Idea (Vi), India’s third-largest telecom operator due to its liabilities and lack of a clear capital expenditure plan, three senior bank officials from as many banks said, requesting anonymity.

However, Vi told Business Standard that a key milestone in the debt-funding process was the updating of the independent techno-economic evaluation (TEV) initiated by the banks, which has been completed. It didn’t clarify if the TEV report was favourable to its debt-funding process.

Bankers had earlier advised Vi to raise equity before seeking loans. Despite the telco raising Rs