Vodafone to invest more in India

The world's largest mobile operator by revenue, Vodafone, which operates in India with a joint venture with Essar Group, on Monday said it will invest more in India as it sees more opportunities in the country.

"We expect an addition of eight to nine million mobile subscribers here. This means India needs more investment. We will continue to invest more here as there are opportunities here," Vodafone chief executive officer Vittorio Colao said at the CII conference.

The company had announced an investment of $2 billion in 2007. The CEO further said India is a jewel in our international market expansion. India is where the growth is going to happen.

Vodafone, which was earlier a miner stakeholder in Bharti, later exited the venture and acquired controlling stake in the Hong Kong-based Hutchison in a 11.2-billion deal last year to take control of the venture-- Vodafone-Essar --which is the second largest GSM operator in India in terms of subscribers.