Vodafone Idea recorded a net profit of ₹51,970 crore for the quarter ended March 2026 (Q4FY26) on the one-time accounting of relief through an exceptional gain of ₹58,116 crore owing to a reduction in adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues by the government and the value of future AGR payments. While, on exceptional gains, the No. 3 carrier posted a profit for the first time since the merger in 2018, on a like-to-like basis, it narrowed losses to ₹5,515 crore in the quarter from ₹7,167 crore a year earlier and ₹5,286 crore in the previous quarter. The Aditya Birla group will infuse ₹4,730 crore into the company through Singapore-based Suryaja Investments Pte Ltd, which will take up a 3.82 per cent stake. The move comes close on the heels of Aditya Birla group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla being appointed non-executive director of Vodafone Idea earlier this month. Both developments send strong signals of promoters backing the company at a time when the debt-laden telco is seeking funding of about ₹35,000 crore from banks to build its 5G networks and get back into competition with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. Business Standard had reported earlier that bankers wanted promoters to have some skin in the game through equity investments, even with the government being a 49 per cent stakeholder and having frozen the carrier's AGR dues, aiding its prospects. The company's bank debt fell by a third to ₹726 crore in Q4FY26 from ₹2,326 crore in the same period a year ago. Abhijit Kishore, chief executive officer, Vodafone Idea Limited, said in a statement following the results issued on Saturday, "The gains from the capex investments and network rollout are now clearly visible. Q4FY26 marks a decisive step forward with all seven key parameters that we benchmark our performance to demonstrating sequential improvement. Most significantly, our subscriber addition turned net positive since February 2026, a meaningful milestone that reflects the impact of our sustained network investment. We also expanded our 4G coverage to include a population of over 48 million and our 5G experience is now live in over 80 cities in line with our commitment to strengthen the network and deliver superior customer experience. Our focus is on execution and in ensuring that the momentum only accelerates from here on." The focus now would move to the annual payments for spectrum bought in previous auctions that amount to more than ₹1.2 trillion. VI has to pay ₹7,076 crore for FY27, the company said. Customer average revenue per user (ARPU), a key monthly metric of profitability recorded quarterly, increased to ₹190, up 8.5 per cent year-on-year, which the company said was the highest growth in the industry. On an absolute basis, VI lags the ARPU of peers, with Airtel leading at ₹257 and Reliance Jio at ₹214. Revenue from operations grew 2.8 per cent year-on-year to ₹11,332 crore, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) for the quarter stood at ₹4,889 crore, an annual increase of 4.9 per cent. For the full year FY26, revenue from operations grew 2.9 per cent to ₹44,873 crore. FY26 recorded a profit of ₹34,552 crore versus a loss of ₹20,217 crore in FY25. Meanwhile, VI's enterprise chief Arvind Nevatia will move on after an 11-year tenure and will be succeeded by MP Sunil Kumar, who is currently the chief growth officer at Hyderabad-based cloud communications firm Tanla Platforms, the company said in an exchange filing.