India story is occupying centre stage at Davos, says Bharti's Sunil Mittal
Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal says Vodafone Idea urgently needs $7-9 billion capital infusion to survive and a patient investor who has the wherewithal to withstand negative cash flows for some years. In an interview with Sruthijith KK on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Mittal said ARPU (average revenue per user) needs to increase as 5G has been a huge load on telcos without any revenue coming through.
Edited excerpts.
What’s the mood in Davos this time? Is it upbeat compared with the previous years? Or is it downcast?
I wouldn’t say it’s downcast or upbeat, it’s mixed. There’s a lot of geopolitical overhang, especially as Ukraine and Russia continue (to be at war)…the war in the Middle East is also occupying a lot of mindspace.
As far as India is concerned…it’s no more about selling (the) India (story), it’s more about listening to opportunities that we have.
People want to invest, want to come in. I’ve been coming here for over 23-24 years, from the time we were painting Davos with the Incredible India campaign…we’ve come to a point where selling is not required.
Now it’s more about pricing…more about opportunities, the sectors where the thrust is. What’s also impressive is India’s spending on public infrastructure is being recognised.
The country is at the Davos centre stage, very prominent in the discussions and in the IBC meeting, which is the key CEO forum here.
Coming to telecom…how do you view the current industry structure? People fear a duopoly is imminent. Is Vodafone Idea (Vi) going to survive?
It’s very hard to say…I’ve been on record saying that India must have three private sector and one public sector player…But we operate in several countries around the
