Vodafone Group to invest Rs13,000 crore in India

In the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's UK visit, Vodafone Group, the largest foreign direct investor in India, has committed to invest a total of Rs13,000 crore for capacity augmentation and new business initiatives.

Vodafone will also increase its staffing levels to 15,000 employees over the next two years.

The investment was committed by Vodafone Group's chief executive officer Vittorio Colao in his meeting with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in London.

''At Vodafone, we are enthused with the PM's vision for 'Digital India' and 'Make in India'. Vodafone India serves over 188 million citizens, of which almost 100 million are from rural areas.

"As the co-creator of the telecom ecosystem, a catalyst of the telecom revolution in India and being committed for the long term, we are ideally poised to partner the Government of India in fulfilling these important initiatives,'' said Colao.

Vodafone, which had commenced operations in India in 2007, says it has already invested over Rs1,11,000 crore and contributed over Rs1,00,000 crores to the exchequer.

The committed investment includes Rs8,000 crore under 'Digital India' to enhance, upgrade and expand network coverage, Rs4,000 crore for 'Make in India for the World' and Rs3,000 crore to increase capacity and upgrade its high-end technology centre and IT and customer experience centres in Pune and Ahmedabad.

These centres service Vodafone companies globally, exemplifying the 'Make in India' opportunity and highlighting its success to the world, it added.

Vodafone will also invest Rs1,000 crore to set up a tier-4 data centre, Rs1,000 crore for its payment bank initiatives.

It will invest Rs1,000 crore towards the payment bank for which Vodafone M-Pesa has received an in-principle license from RBI.

This will provide further impetus to M-Pesa's focus on financial inclusion and accelerate India's journey into a cashless economy.