Indus Towers profit up 32% in Q4FY24

Indus Towers posted net profit of ₹1,853 crore for the quarter ended March 2024, up 32.4% from the quarter ended March 2023, where it recorded profits of nearly ₹1,400 crore.

The country’s largest telecom tower provider’s revenues rose 6.5% to ₹7,193 crore in the same period, up from ₹6,753 crore the year before.

Consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was at ₹4,103 crore, up 19% on-year, representing an operating margin of 57%, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Indus Towers provides masts for mobile and data connectivity to all telcos operating in India. Its primary customers are Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, the second and third largest carriers.

“The network expansion by a major customer and increase in our market share helped us deliver record tower additions, surpassing the milestone of 200,000 towers. On the financial front, we were pleased to see steady collections and part clearance of the overdues,” Prachur Sah, managing director and CEO, Indus Towers, said.

Also Read: Indus Towers wants Vodafone Idea to settle all dues in one go

‘Network expansion, 5G rollouts to provide a fillip to our growth’

“We expect the ongoing network expansion and 5G rollouts, supplemented by the encouraging developments around a major customer’s fund raise to provide a fillip to our growth. While we continue with our growth journey, we remain steadfast in our commitment to sustainability,” Sah said.

Indus is in discussions with Vodafone Idea for a revised payment plan to clear outstanding dues of ₹5,385.3 crore as of March 2024, which covers all overdue payments, the telecom tower provider said alluding to the Aditya Birla Group promoted carrier but without explicitly naming it.

Indus had collected ₹300 crore from VI on account of outstanding past dues in addition to 100% of the monthly collection, in the quarter ended December 2023. In that quarter, it had an impact of ₹2,270 crore due to provision for doubtful debts and ₹493 crore from an exceptional item. 

Sah had told Mint earlier this month that he expected Vodafone Idea to clear all its pending dues in one go, after the telco said that the proceeds of the ₹18,000-crore follow-on public offer (FPO) would not be used for paying vendor or government dues.

Also Read: Indus Towers Q3 FY24 Results: Profit at ₹1540.5Cr, Revenue Increased by 6.42% YoY

For the full year ended March 2024, Indus recorded a modest increase in revenue to ₹28,600 crore, up 1% from the year before. Profit shot up by 196% to ₹6,041 crore for the full year, versus ₹2,043.3 crore. In the previous financial year, the group made exceptions of ₹492.3 crore from dues owed by Vodafone Idea, without naming the telco.