Vodafone Idea’s loss widened to ₹5,975 crore as revenue per user rose 9.7% to ₹198
Vodafone Idea’s results for July to September: why the loss widened, what customers pay, the towers it added, and the ₹1,57,532 crore it owes the government.
Vodafone Idea (Vi), the mobile operator whose largest shareholder is the Government of India with 49.00%, ahead of Vodafone Group’s 16.07% and the Aditya Birla Group’s 9.57%, lost ₹5,975 crore in July–September, against ₹3,754 crore in April–June and ₹5,524 crore a year earlier.1 Its customers paid more: average revenue per user (ARPU) rose 9.7% in a year to ₹198 a month.1 The jump from April–June came mostly from the value of Vi’s own shares, not from the business. Excluding one-off items the loss was ₹5,513 crore, against ₹5,365 crore in April–June and ₹5,562 crore a year earlier.1
₹5,975 cr
loss for July–September; ₹5,513 crore before one-off items
NSE filing
₹198
revenue per customer per month, up 9.7% from ₹180
NSE filing
₹3,946 cr
capital spending in the quarter; about 9,000 towers added
NSE filing
−₹44,298 cr
total equity at 30 September, from −₹35,758 crore in March
NSE filing
02What the business earns, and what it owes
Vi earned ₹4,981 crore before depreciation and interest; those two cost it ₹10,480 crore
Vodafone Idea consolidated profit and loss, ₹ crore, July–September 2026
Source: Vodafone Idea, quarterly report and unaudited consolidated results, NSE filings of 12 November 2026 · as of 12 November 2026 · Net finance costs are after ₹376 crore of other income; tax of ₹14 crore is not shown.
That gap is the cost of the network and the spectrum. Vi’s bank debt is small: ₹943 crore of bank debt at 30 September, against ₹5,470 crore of cash and bank balances.1 Counting debentures and other lenders, the group owes ₹4,543 crore. Its large debt is to the government: deferred payments of ₹1,31,268 crore for spectrum and ₹26,264 crore for adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, with ₹9,216 crore of instalments due by September 2027.2 The AGR figure is what remains after the year to March 2026 booked a ₹58,116 crore reduction in those dues as an exceptional item; that is why January–March, with ₹57,491 crore of exceptional items, showed a ₹51,970 crore profit.12
Vi says it has secured over ₹10,500 crore of funding in the half year, including warrants and bank facilities, and placed over ₹13,200 crore of equipment orders against its three-year capex plan. It added nearly 9,000 broadband towers in the quarter, the most in nine quarters, for 213,616 in all.1 The shares closed at ₹12.57 on Friday 13 November, down 3.1% on the day after the results.3 What to watch: whether cash EBITDA, ₹2,498 crore this quarter, keeps pace with the government instalments and the tower build.
Sources
- Vodafone Idea, quarterly report for the second quarter and half year ended 30 September 2026 (NSE) — 12 November 2026
- Vodafone Idea, outcome of board meeting: unaudited standalone and consolidated financial results for the quarter and half year ended 30 September 2026, with limited review reports (NSE) — 12 November 2026
- Yahoo Finance, IDEA.NS daily closing prices, 12 and 13 November 2026 (quote data, not a primary source) — 13 November 2026
Disclosure. TechBag is a software reseller: it earns when companies buy through it, including from vendors named here. The analysis is TechBag’s own; no vendor paid for or saw this piece before publication. Facts are labelled reported, TechBag count or our view.
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