Bharti Airtel board approves raising Rs 32,000-crore to fire up biz

Taking on the fierce competition posed by Reliance Jio and the upcoming auctions means burning more cash for companies like Airtel and Vodafone Idea

Bharti Airtel on Thursday said its board of directors approved a fundraising plan of up to Rs 32,000 crore through a mix of rights issue and bond. This will help reduce the company’s debt of about $14 billion and also fire up the telco’s fight to reach to the top.

The proceeds are likely to be of much help, especially with the Department of Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan indicating the Centre stands firm on its proposal of conducting the 5G spectrum auctions in 2019. On Wednesday, Sundararajan said: “Documents of notice inviting applications are in place; and after June, we