Kolkata: The three-month moratorium on bank term loans and working capital finance offered by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in response to the raging pandemic is likely to offer some short-term cash-flow respite and improve the liquidity levels of already stressed telcos, especially cash-strapped Vodafone Idea, analysts and industry experts said.Experts though have called on the government to consider a three-month moratorium on operators’ revenue-share commitments for the April-June quarter FY21, which would be more significant relief for the debt-laden telecom sector that is currently reeling under the impact of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) payments crisis.“It would partly alleviate immediate cash flow needs and generate some liquidity for the struggling telcos and help then pay staff salaries and meet working capital expenses such as payments to vendors, tower partners, diesel costs, amongst others,” Rajan Mathews, director general, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). COAI represents Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio.Industry estimates peg the combined cash flow relief for the Big 3 telcos following the three-month moratorium at around Rs 4,000 crore in terms of servicing their debt, which will not enough for a sector saddled with a whopping Rs 7 lakh-crore debt burden and struggling to pay off its AGR dues.
from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2JnfmM1
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