Hutch-Essar: Welcome, Ambani to Vodafone

Anil Ambani, chairman, Reliance Communications, today welcomed Vodafone to India after the UK giant emerged the top bidder for Hutch-Essar with a bid of $18.8 billion.

"We congratulate Vodafone and welcome them to India. Vodafone's participation is a further endorsement of the exciting future growth potential, and the progressive policies prevailing in the Indian telecom sector," Ambani said in a statement.

On his company's bid, Ambani said: "Reliance's bid was made in line with our publicly declared and consistent philosophy of sustainable value creation and financial conservatism in the face of truly challenging valuations."

Ambani announced that his company would maintain substantial financial strength and flexibility while investing a record Rs 11,000 crore ($2.5 billion) in the coming financial year.