Vodafone Inda on Tuesday announced 2.60 per cent growth in its pre-tax profit at Rs 6,704 crore for the April-September period, and deferred its IPO due to unfavourable market conditions.
Underlining that headwinds exist on the regulatory and competitive fronts, the company said its revenue growth came slower than the country's GDP growth, at 5.9 per cent to Rs 22,579 crore during the reporting period.
There was also a drop in its pre-tax margins to 29.6 per cent against 30.5 per cent in the year-ago period, but chief financial officer Thomas Reisten called them resilient given the conditions.
When asked about impairment of $5 billion taken by its British parent Vodafone Plc on account of India operations, the managing director and chief executive of local unit, Sunil Sood, said it is an accounting issue which will have no impact on operations.
To the crucial question of its impact on valuations, especially given the fact that it is preparing for an IPO, Reisten said it does not impact the IPO preparedness as it is a shareholder issue.
Stating that the company continues to prepare for an IPO, Sood said Vodafone India will be waiting for the market conditions to get better.