London, May 9, 2026, 21:10 (BST)
Vodafone Group is considering shifting a portion of its 19% holding in Vodafone Idea over to the Indian company’s own treasury, Bloomberg News reported. The move would strengthen the Mumbai-listed affiliate’s position, but notably, there’s no new cash coming from the UK telecoms giant. Vodafone gave Reuters a “no comment,” while Vodafone Idea hasn’t replied to Reuters’ queries yet. Reuters
Timing matters here. Vodafone Idea recently secured relief on its prolonged Indian telecom dues dispute, yet capital is still required for network upgrades and to hold onto subscribers as Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel dominate the market.
Vodafone Group’s latest proposal throws an extra variable into the mix ahead of its FY26 results, set for May 12. Investors are already tracking whether Chief Executive Margherita Della Valle’s restructuring efforts are showing results. The company’s own investor calendar confirms those results are coming Tuesday.
Vodafone Idea may end up holding the transferred shares as treasury stock, meaning the company keeps the shares on its books for now instead of offloading them right away. Down the line, those shares could be sold off to help cover government dues or fund investment needs, according to Bloomberg.
According to the report, Vodafone Idea is in discussions with lenders for a loan package of around 350 billion rupees, or $3.7 billion. State Bank of India is expected to head the lender group. The bulk of the funds would come in as term loans—debt paid back on a set timeline.
Adjusted gross revenue, or AGR—the metric India uses to figure licence fees and related telecom charges—remains the key battleground. Vodafone Idea’s tab has been trimmed: the company now owes 640.46 billion rupees, down from 876.95 billion, according to Reuters last week.
The funding issue gets sharper with big rivals in play. In March, government telecom data put Reliance Jio’s broadband base at 523.44 million and Bharti Airtel’s at 368.84 million—both miles ahead of Vodafone Idea, which counted 128.91 million.
Vodafone shares in London finished Friday at 118.65 pence, rising 2.28%. In Mumbai, Vodafone Idea held steady at 11.24 rupees following the stake-transfer report.
India’s move comes on the heels of a separate effort by Vodafone in its home country. Earlier this week, Vodafone announced it would acquire CK Hutchison’s 49% holding in VodafoneThree for £4.3 billion, a deal that hands Vodafone complete control of the UK’s biggest mobile operator once finalized.
Della Valle pointed to “remarkable progress” from the VodafoneThree team, describing now as the moment for full ownership. Completion of the deal hinges on approval under the UK National Security and Investment Act and is targeted for the second half of 2026. Vodafone
Germany offers a real-time example. On May 7, Vodafone announced a multi-year deal with Amazon Web Services aimed at boosting sovereign cloud services for German companies and public-sector clients, ensuring all data is handled and stored inside the EU.
The India plan remains up in the air. According to Bloomberg, negotiations are ongoing and the structure isn’t final—things could shift. If lenders keep their guard up or the share sale falls short, Vodafone Idea could continue to trail Jio and Airtel on investment.
