Vodafone India posts 60% jump in operating profit

IPO plans still on, says CEO Marten Pieters.

Vodafone on Tuesday reported a 60 per cent increase in adjusted operating profit at its Indian operations in FY14 on the back of growth in data usage, improved voice pricing and rise in customers. The company said that this was the first time it has reported a net profit since its entry into the country in 2007.

“Service revenue in India grew 13 per cent as the growing customer base used greater quantities of voice and data traffic, supported by effective voice price increases,” Vodafone said in a statement.

Marten Pieters, managing director & CEO of Vodafone India said that the company still has plans to float its first public issue in India. “It depends on lots of factors including how the next spectrum auctions go but broadly our philosophy is to tap the local markets, wherever we are.” Pieters said the company will bring the plans for a public issue to the front burner once there is certainty about the next spectrum auction, tentatively in July. Vodafone had postponed its IPO as it did not know the amount to be paid in the auction. He also said he would want to get the pending tax cases resolved before that.

Vodafone India had a 125 per cent year-on-year increase in data traffic. It has 52 million data customers in India, with 7 million of them 3G data customers. However, Vodafone Group’s adjusted operating profit declined 37.4 per cent to GBP 7.87 billion at the end of FY14. The group’s revenue declined 1.9 per cent to GBP 43.6 billion. During the year, Vodafone acquired the entire indirect interest held by Analjit Singh and Neelu Analjit Singh and the 10.97 per cent stake of Piramal Enterprises in Vodafone India for over Rs 10,000 crore.