NEW DELHI, Nov 14 (Reuters) - India's Vodafone Idea Ltd
said on Thursday its consolidated net loss in the
second quarter widened to 509.22 billion rupees ($7.14 billion),
as the company made provisions for potential outstanding
payments to the federal government.
The company took a charge of 256.78 billion rupees for the
quarter to the end of September after India's Supreme Court
upheld a demand by the telecoms department that wireless
carriers pay 920 billion rupees in overdue levies and interest.
Analysts on average expected the company to report a
consolidated net loss of 44.22 billion rupees for the quarter,
according to Refinitiv data, although those figures did not
include the charge.
Ravinder Takkar, managing director and chief executive of
Vodafone Idea, said in a statement the company was "in active
discussions with the government seeking financial relief" after
the ruling.
Vodafone Idea, a combination of the local unit of British
Vodafone Group Plc and billionaire Kumar Mangalam
Birla's Idea Cellular, also said it was in the process of filing
a review petition with the Supreme Court.
The wireless carrier had posted a net loss of 49.74 billion
rupees a year ago.
The company's consolidated revenue from operations for the
quarter rose 41.4% year-on-year to 108.44 billion rupees.
($1 = 71.3500 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal)