Vodafone Idea to Raise ₹40,000 Cr Debt After Govt Freezes 95% of AGR Dues

Vodafone Idea is throwing a Hail Mary. As of Saturday, January 10, 2026, the cash-strapped telco is officially back at the table with banks, looking to raise between ₹30,000 crore and ₹40,000 crore in fresh debt.¹

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The thing is, the “death sentence” of AGR dues has just been commuted by the government.² Or nothing. Let’s be real, without this last-minute rescue from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the company was looking at a ₹18,000 crore hole this March.³ Those too.

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The “Vi Revival” Log: Field Notes

It’s an ongoing situation where the government—now the largest shareholder with 49%—is doing everything possible to prevent a Jio-Airtel duopoly.⁴

• The 10-Year Freeze: The DoT has officially frozen ₹87,695 crore of Vi’s AGR dues.⁵ The thing is, they only have to pay roughly ₹124 crore per year until 2031.⁶ It’s a massive drop from the thousands of crores they were dreading.

• The Network War: Vi is planning to dump this new debt money straight into the ground—literally. They need thousands of new towers to catch up. Currently, they have 5G in only 29 cities, while Jio and Airtel have already blanketed the country.⁷ And here’s the kicker: they’re also banking on “Vi Protect,” an AI spam filter, to stop the subscriber exodus.⁸

• The Tillman Factor: New York’s Tillman Global Holdings is still looming in the background.⁹ The thing is, they’ve been talking about a 6 billion equity infusion for months.¹⁰ But Tillman wants “operational control,” which means the Birla and Vodafone groups might have to step back.¹¹

• The ARPU Problem: Even with the debt, analysts say Vi needs a 15% to 45% tariff hike by June 2026 just to keep the lights on and service the rest of their ₹2 lakh crore liability.

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Vi’s Financial Lifeline: Repayment Schedule

[Table: Revised AGR Payouts (Starting March 2026)]

And Here’s the Kicker…

The market is cautiously optimistic but totally spooked. The stock jumped 8% on the relief news yesterday but closed slightly down at ₹11.26 as reality set in.¹² The thing is, the DoT is setting up a committee to “reassess” the dues.¹³ If that committee finds a way to cut the total principal, Vi might actually survive.

It’s an ongoing situation where the company is trying to rebrand as the “highest-rated brand on Google Business” while simultaneously asking for billions to fix its dropping signals. If the debt raise fails, that Tillman equity deal is their only remaining parachute.

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End…

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