New Delhi: Airtel’s request for conversion of its statutory dues into equity – on the lines of a bailout given to Vodafone Idea – may not be approved by the Department of Telecom (DoT) in view of healthy financial state of the company, govt sources said.Airtel surprised many when in April it approached DoT for conversion of its payments towards spectrum and AGR into an equity swap. This would have seen the govt receive a slice of the company’s shareholding in lieu of outstanding payments, similar to what was done by the beleaguered Vodafone Idea, in which the govt now has a 49% stake.

DoT, which has conducted a preliminary assessment of Airtel’s demand, believes the company’s request does not hold much merit. “There seems to be no need to discuss this proposal. The company is sufficiently healthy and does not appear to be in need of such a financial bailout,” top sources told TOI.Unlike Vodafone Idea, which has a debt in excess of Rs 2 lakh crore and is losing thousands of crores of rupees in losses every quarter, Airtel remains strong and healthy. In FY25, the company posted an over four-fold increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 33,556 crore from Rs 7,467 crore in FY24. Its annual revenue from operations grew 15% to Rs 1.7 lakh crore in the year ending March 31, 2025, from Rs 1.5 lakh crore in FY24. For FY25, Vodafone Idea incurred a loss of Rs 27,383 crore (Rs 31,238 crore in FY24) and its net worth stood at negative Rs 70,320 crore.Sources added that Airtel decided to seek the equity swap from govt as it believed that the step would help it conserve cash. The company is understood to have dues of over Rs 70,000 crore, including Rs 40,000 crore of AGR dues.The sources also said the window to apply for the moratorium for telecom companies to avail the equity swap deal ended on March 31 this year, making Airtel ineligible.