The Hindu Business Line : Vodafone open to stake hike in Bharti Group

Global mobile telecommunications major Vodafone Group Plc of the UK is open to the idea of hiking its stake in India's Bharti group from its existing level of 10 per cent. The company, however, has no plans to do so immediately, said Mr Arun Sarin, CEO of Vodafone Group Plc, while talking to newspersons here on Saturday at the sidelines of the 52nd Convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-KGP).

"We are open to the idea of hiking our stake in Bharti from the existing level of 10 per cent. However, there are no immediate plans to do so," he said. It may be recalled that Vodafone acquired a 10 per cent stake in Bharti last year in an all-cash deal aggregating to 820 million. The acquisition gave Vodafone a footprint in India.

Global Revenue

Mr Sarin said that as part of its global growth plans, Vodafone has been investing in emerging markets "from where most of the growth will come in the next five years". To partake in this growth, Vodafone has invested in the mobile telecommunications business in India, South Africa, China, Turkey, Czech Republic and Romania, among other countries. India as a market had assumed great significance in Vodafone's global plans, he said.

According to him, at present, around 15 per cent of Vodafone's global revenue comes from emerging markets. In the next five years, this figure is expected to go up to 30 per cent, he said, adding that Vodafone was presently growing at five to six per cent annually. He expressed the hope that Airtel's share of India's mobile telecommunications market would increase in the months ahead.

Donation

Earlier, in his convocation address, Mr Sarin urged the graduating students to give back to society as much as they possibly could. "You must think of what role you all can play in this regard, individually and collectively," he said. Mr Sarin also made a donation of $2,50,000 from his personal funds to IIT-KGP's Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering for the setting up of a laboratory that would be engaged in research in electrical materials. He has committed to donate a further sum of $ 250,000 to the laboratory at a later date.

In his address, the Director of IIT-KGP, Prof S.K. Dube, said the students' strength at the institute has gone up from 5,600 to 7,000 in the 2006-07 academic year. He said a plan has been firmed up to take the number of students at IIT-KGP to beyond 10,000 by 2010, he said. A total of 1,370 students received their degrees at the convocation.

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