new delhi/bengaluru/mumbai, Dec. 19 -- Two of India's biggest private telecom operators-Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi)-are looking to shore up their finances and fund network investments from vastly different starting points, pursuing sharply different strategies of equity-led deleveraging and debt-led survival, respectively. On Thursday, cash-flush Bharti Airtel approved raising the remaining Rs.15,740 crore (of Rs.21,000 crore) from its 2021 rights issue by making the first and final call on outstanding partly paid-up equity shares. The same day, a struggling Vi said in an exchange filing that it has raised Rs.3,300 crore through secured, unlisted and unrated non-convertible debentures via its subsidiary Vodafone Idea Telecom Infrastructure Ltd (VITIL), with JM Financial Products acting as the exclusive debt arranger. While Airtel said in an exchange filing that proceeds from its equity call will be used to prepay or repay borrowings and for general corporate purposes, Vi said in its statement that the proceeds from this issuance will be utilised by VITIL to repay past obligations to Vodafone Idea. The telco added that interest in the fundraise exceeded the NCD issuance from large non-banking financial companies, foreign portfolio investors, and alternative investment funds. Meanwhile, on Thursday, Airtel's board approved senior management changes, appointing Gopal Vittal as executive vice chairman and Shashwat Sharma as chief executive officer effective January 1, 2026, along with a string of other changes in top management. Vi's fundraise marks a tentative revival after years of acute financial stress that brought the company close to bankruptcy as government dues mounted to nearly Rs.2 trillion. Of this, adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues stood at Rs.78,500 crore as of the end of September....