Corporate Grapevine     

Published: June 30, 2025
Updated: June 30, 2025

Vi tottering, Birla goes shopping

The massive losses in the domestic telecom business have not deterred Kumar Mangalam Birla from acquisitions overseas. Hindalco, the metals flagship of the Aditya/ Birla group, announced the acqui sition of a 100 per cent stake in US-based AluChem Companies Inc for an enterprise value of $/ 125/ million.

Back home, telecom giant Vodafone Idea continues to bleed. In Q4FY25 (Jan-March 2025), the company reported a net loss of Rs 7,166/ crore – worse than the Rs 6,609/ crore loss in the previous quarter – despite slight revenue improvement. With a staggering net debt of around Rs 1.87/ trillion and AGR liabilities of roughly Rs 84,000/ crore – not significantly alleviated by gov ernment relief – Vi is struggling to stay afloat without major fi nancial restructuring, capital infusion or regulatory concessions.

Insiders say the ball is in the court of the Indian government, which will have to give a long 25-year moratorium to repay past dues and convert more dues into equity so that the telecom com pany can become a viable entity.