Vodafone Financial News

Airtel added the highest number of active mobile users among India’s top telcos in July 2023, after a seven-month gap, on the back of strong paying-customer gains in the metros, as per latest subscriber data collated by Trai. The pace of Reliance Jio’s active user gains was slower, but it retained market leadership on the active users share score.

Bharti Enterprises vice chairman Akhil Gupta has said cash-strapped Vodafone Idea’s survival is vital for growth of India’s biggest telecom tower company, Indus Towers, in which Bharti Airtel is the biggest stakeholder. Gupta also expects a combination of higher data consumption and fixed wireless services to drive 5G monetisation for India’s top telcos in the near-term. “Indus’s growth will be dependent on Vi catching up on 4G investments and eventually rolling out 5G…hence survival of Vi is important for Indus’ growth prospects,” JP Morgan quoted Gupta as saying in a recent investor summit hosted by the global brokerage. Loss-making Vi has been struggling to raise funds needed to pay vendors and the government, expand its 4G coverage and invest in its pending 5G rollout to compete effectively with bigger rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. Vi’s chief executive Akshaya Moondra though recently told the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that the company had made significant progress in its ongoing talks with several groups of investors to raise equity and equity-linked capital, and had term sheets from some potential investors. But the telco is yet to close its fundraise. JP Morgan quoted Bharti’s Gupta saying that India “needs three fully functional private operators,” which is why the survival of Vi was important.

Vodafone, on Monday urged the EU to make tech and streaming giants pay for the massive amounts of bandwidth they use. The idea is not new but has ignited a fierce debate. Telecoms giants say that they need more money to maintain and update the infrastructure to meet Europe's voracious data needs, and that it would be fairer if firms like Netflix contributed towards the cost. But tech behemoths say telecoms companies already get money from customers, while digital rights activists fear making web giants pay would create a two-speed internet. «Big tech companies pay today almost nothing for data transport in our networks, far from covering the costs needed to expand networks,» a letter published by the European telecoms lobby group ETNO and signed by 20 CEOs said.

Jio cemented its dominance of rural India in July as it was the only telco to add mobile users while both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) lost ground. Analysts said the scenario underlines the growing appetite of entry-level mobile users for Jio's internet-enabled budget feature phone, JioBharat, to shift to 4G technology. «Jio's strong (rural) momentum is likely driven by JioBharat phone subscribers, especially post Bharti' Airtel's recent hikes in the minimum recharge plans and Jio's launch of the new phone,» UBS said in a note. Latest subscriber data collated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) showed Jio added 2 million mobile users in the rural markets in July while both Airtel and Vi lost 540,000 and 690,000 rural users respectively. Jio's rural mobile user base expanded to 194.73 million in July, while Airtel and Vi's slipped to 180.84 million and 111.32 million respectively. In July, Jio's parent, Reliance Industries (RIL) had launched Jio Bharat, an internet-enabled feature phone, costing ₹999 in a bid to attract more of the estimated 250 million entry-level mobile broadband customers, especially in the rural markets where competition is set to intensify with rival Airtel also eyeing this market. Both Jio and Airtel have been seeking to grab loss-making Vi's user base in the hinterlands as bulk of the telecom sector's net 4G user additions are from rural markets.

Shares of Hero MotoCorp Ltd.(up 2.93 per cent), Tata Motors Ltd.(up 2.62 per cent), Ashok Leyland Ltd.(up 1.66 per cent), Bajaj Auto Ltd.(up 1.14 per cent) and Bharat Forge Ltd.(up 0.73 per cent) ended the day as top gainers in the pack. On the other hand, Tube Investments of India Ltd.(down 3.72 per cent), Bosch Ltd.(down 1.55 per cent), MRF Ltd.(down 1.31 per cent), TVS Motor Company Ltd.(down 0.13 per cent) and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.(down 0.11 per cent) finished as the top losers of the day.

Relative Strength Index (RSI). On September 27, Wednesday, StockEdge revealed that 25 stocks were trading in the overbought zone but were accompanied by declining RSI trends. In this article, we explore the importance of RSI and highlight 10 stocks that may need a closer look from investors. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is a widely used momentum oscillator that helps investors gauge the strength and direction of a stock's price movements.

Cipla: Promoters of India’s fourth-largest drugmaker are in advanced talks with two consortiums—one led by Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd, with the participation of prominent family offices, and the other a group of buyout firms led by BPEA EQT and General Atlantic—to sell a controlling stake for $6-7 billion, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Mint. Dixon Technologies: The company said its subsidiary, Padget Electronics entered into a strategic agreement with Xiaomi Technology India. This agreement encompasses the manufacturing of smartphones and various related products exclusively for Xiaomi.

Jio's mobile user gains were significantly higher than Bharti Airtel's in July, which analysts said indicated that the telecom market leader had cornered most of Vodafone Idea's churning customers coupled with stronger gains in rural markets. Latest data collated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) showed Jio added 3.9 million mobile users in July while Airtel reported 1.51 million additions, partly weighed down by sharp tariff hikes taken in its base prepaid rates. Cash-strapped Vi lost 1.32 million customers, shrinking its mobile user base to 228.33 million as of end-July. Trai data showed Jio's mobile user base swelled to 442.48 million in July while that of Airtel rose to 375.24 million. The data indicated that the combination of Jio and Airtel's user gains and Vi's losses on this score triggered a 0.23% rise in India's mobile user base to around 1.146 billion as of end-July.

Trai) has outlined three options – auction, non-auction, and hybrid – for ways to allocate frequency in the 6 GHz spectrum band (5925 MHz-7125 MHz) as part of a white paper on the 6 GHz band. The 6 GHz spectrum band has been a bone of contention between the India telcos Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea on one side and tech giants like Amazon and Meta on the other. While the telcos want the spectrum band to be auctioned, or allocated through the licensed route, the tech lobby has called for it to be sanctioned under the unlicensed route, or allotted without auctions. As part of the hybrid route, Trai said that the lower part of the spectrum band (5925/5945-6425 MHz) can be assigned for unlicensed use and the upper part (6425-7125 MHz) for licensed use. While giving the allocation options in a white paper issued recently, the sector regulator has also outlined the pros and cons of the proposed methods. “The allocation of the 6 GHz band for licensing is one of the considerations in the field of wireless communications, especially demanded by TSPs (telecom service providers) for 5G deployment,” Trai said in the paper. It said that there is a significant challenge in making spectrum available for 5G use in the C-band (3.3-4.2 GHz) due to the presence of existing users and usage.

LTIMindtree Ltd.(up 0.71 per cent), Coforge Ltd.(up 0.59 per cent), L&T Technology Services Ltd.(up 0.43 per cent), MphasiS Ltd.(up 0.09 per cent) and Tech Mahindra Ltd.(up 0.05 per cent) were among the top gainers. Infosys Ltd.(down 0.48 per cent), HCL Technologies Ltd.(down 0.42 per cent), Wipro Ltd.(down 0.29 per cent), Persistent Systems Ltd.(down 0.05 per cent) and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.(down 0.01 per cent) were the top losers on the index.

Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd.(up 0.46 per cent) and Ashok Leyland Ltd.(up 0.08 per cent) were among the top gainers. Tube Investments of India Ltd.(down 1.67 per cent), Eicher Motors Ltd.(down 1.04 per cent), Balkrishna Industries Ltd.(down 0.99 per cent), Samvardhana Motherson International Ltd.(down 0.92 per cent) and Bajaj Auto Ltd.(down 0.74 per cent) were the top losers on the index.

₹217 crore against Dream11’s FY18 revenue of ₹228 crore, and ₹1,006 crore against FY19 revenue of ₹802 crore. In September last year, it asked Bengaluru-based Gameskraft for ₹21,000 crore GST against its FY22 revenue of ₹2,112 crore. Three lawyers for multiple gaming firms, as well as a senior government official, confirmed that more such notices are in the works.

₹55,000 crore are reminiscent of the Vodafone direct-taxes saga. The notices include a GST notice for over ₹25,000 crore to fantasy sports platform Dream11, according to a report in the Economic Times, which also said the total demand could be ₹100,000 crore or more. There are two problems with these tax demands.

Shares of IDFC First Bank Ltd.(up 1.32 per cent), Au Small Finance Bank Ltd.(up 1.04 per cent), Federal Bank Ltd.(up 0.5 per cent), HDFC Bank Ltd.(up 0.43 per cent) and State Bank of India(up 0.05 per cent) ended the day as top gainers in the pack. On the other hand, Bank of Baroda(down 1.72 per cent), IndusInd Bank Ltd.(down 1.36 per cent), Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.(down 1.13 per cent), Punjab National Bank(down 1.05 per cent) and ICICI Bank Ltd.(down 0.79 per cent) finished as the top losers of the day. The Nifty Bank index closed 0.32 per cent down at 44624.2. Benchmark NSE Nifty50 index ended down 9.85 points at 19664.7, while the BSE Sensex stood down 78.22 points at 65945.47. Among the 50 stocks in the Nifty index, 26 ended in the green, while 24 closed in the red. Shares of Vodafone Idea, JP Power, IFCI, IOB and Suzlon Energy were among the most traded shares on the NSE. Shares of Winsome Yarns, Shreyas Ship, Airan Ltd., IFCI and Divgi Torqtransfer hit their fresh 52-week highs in today's trade, while Rite Zone Chemcon In, Chavda Infra, Jiwanram Sheoduttrai, Jalan Transolutions and Essen Speciality Fil hit their fresh 52-week lows.

Vodafone Idea has launched a 5-day offer called ‘Recharge and Fly’ targeting its pre-paid user base from October 26-30 in association with online travel portal EaseMyTrip, the telecom operator said in a statement Tuesday. The offer, which is exclusive to users of Vi’s mobile application, includes a raffle of sorts that will allow users to win travel coupons on the EaseMyTrip portal and additional data on select packages by recharging their prepaid mobile number during the offer window. “As part of the proposition, Vi users recharging through the Vi App between 26th to 30th September 2023, will stand a chance to win a free flight ticket every hour, valued upto Rs. 5000.

Shares of Ashok Leyland Ltd.(up 2.01 per cent), TVS Motor Company Ltd.(up 1.43 per cent), Bharat Forge Ltd.(up 1.4 per cent), Samvardhana Motherson International Ltd.(up 0.67 per cent) and MRF Ltd.(up 0.64 per cent) ended the day as top gainers in the pack. On the other hand, Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd.(down 1.83 per cent), Hero MotoCorp Ltd.(down 1.58 per cent), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.(down 1.1 per cent), Eicher Motors Ltd.(down 0.66 per cent) and Tata Motors Ltd.(down 0.28 per cent) finished as the top losers of the day. The Nifty Auto index closed 0.08 per cent down at 16221.55. Benchmark NSE Nifty50 index ended up 0.3 points at 19674.55, while the BSE Sensex stood up 14.54 points at 66023.69. Among the 50 stocks in the Nifty index, 24 ended in the green, while 26 closed in the red. Shares of JP Power, Vodafone Idea, PNB, YES Bank and IRB Infra Dev.

Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd.(up 7.46 per cent), Sobha Ltd.(up 1.98 per cent), Brigade Enterprises Ltd.(up 1.21 per cent), Godrej Properties Ltd.(up 0.32 per cent) and Oberoi Realty Ltd.(up 0.15 per cent) were among the top gainers. Phoenix Mills Ltd.(down 2.27 per cent), Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd.(down 2.02 per cent), Macrotech Developers Ltd.(down 1.94 per cent), Prestige Estates Projects Ltd.(down 1.06 per cent) and DLF Ltd.(down 0.01 per cent) were the top losers on the index. The Nifty Realty index was down 0.35 per cent at 559.55 at the time of writing this report. Benchmark NSE Nifty50 index was down 62.65 points at 19611.6, while the BSE Sensex was down 199.55 points at 65809.6. Among the 50 stocks in the Nifty index, 18 were trading in the green, while 32 were in the red. Shares of JP Power, Vodafone Idea, YES Bank, Indian Railway Fin and IFCI were among the most traded shares on the NSE. Shares of Sonu Infratech, Schneider, Nelcast, MTNL and KM Sugar Mills hit their fresh 52-week highs in today's trade, while Delta Corp, Pramara Promotions, Jiwanram Sheoduttrai, FutureLifestyleFash and Shree Ram Proteins hit fresh 52-week lows in trade.

L&T Technology Services Ltd.(up 1.05 per cent) and MphasiS Ltd.(up 0.07 per cent) were among the top gainers. Infosys Ltd.(down 1.19 per cent), Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.(down 0.96 per cent), HCL Technologies Ltd.(down 0.9 per cent), Wipro Ltd.(down 0.74 per cent) and LTIMindtree Ltd.(down 0.74 per cent) were the top losers on the index. The Nifty IT index was down 0.8 per cent at 32642.15 at the time of writing this report. Benchmark NSE Nifty50 index was down 46.9 points at 19627.35, while the BSE Sensex was down 146.79 points at 65862.36. Among the 50 stocks in the Nifty index, 18 were trading in the green, while 32 were in the red. Shares of JP Power, Vodafone Idea, YES Bank, IFCI and IOB were among the most traded shares on the NSE. Shares of Sonu Infratech, MTNL, Schneider, Nelcast and KM Sugar Mills hit their fresh 52-week highs in today's trade, while Delta Corp, Pramara Promotions, Jiwanram Sheoduttrai, FutureLifestyleFash and Shree Ram Proteins hit fresh 52-week lows in trade.

Some investors are dialing up their bets on large European telecommunications companies, but shares struggle to recover previous highs amid a challenging near-term industry outlook due to muted top-line growth, stiff competition and heavy investments, analysts say. The sector is in the middle of a costly transition to upgrade its infrastructure to 5G technology and to replace copper with more modern fiber-optic cables that transmit data faster. This, together with a combination of challenges that include weak revenue trends due to competition and high debts as a result of past mergers and acquisitions, have weighed on European telecom stocks.

Shares of Bank of Baroda(up 3.95 per cent), Punjab National Bank(up 3.33 per cent), IndusInd Bank Ltd.(up 2.94 per cent), State Bank of India(up 1.7 per cent) and Bandhan Bank Ltd.(up 1.56 per cent) ended the day as top gainers in the pack. On the other hand, HDFC Bank Ltd.(down 1.52 per cent) and ICICI Bank Ltd.(down 0.93 per cent) finished as the top losers of the day. The Nifty Bank index closed 0.03 per cent down at 44612.05. Benchmark NSE Nifty50 index ended down 68.1 points at 19674.25, while the BSE Sensex stood down 221.09 points at 66009.15. Among the 50 stocks in the Nifty index, 19 ended in the green, while 30 closed in the red. Shares of Vodafone Idea, IOB, JP Power, SJVN and YES Bank were among the most traded shares on the NSE. Shares of PNB Gilts, Nelcast, Sonu Infratech, HUDCO and IFCI hit their fresh 52-week highs in today's trade, while Yasons Chemex Care, Jiwanram Sheoduttrai, Jalan Transolutions, FutureLifestyleFash and Dangee Dums hit their fresh 52-week lows.

Shares of Granules India Ltd.(up 4.2 per cent), Pfizer Ltd.(up 0.67 per cent) and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd.(up 0.3 per cent) ended the day as top gainers in the pack. On the other hand, Zydus Lifesciences Ltd.(down 3.25 per cent), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd.(down 3.0 per cent), Alkem Laboratories Ltd.(down 2.77 per cent), Dr.