Vodafone Idea shares will trade actively on Friday, April 12, as the company has received approval to launch a Rs 18,000 crore follow-on public offer (FPO). The shareholders can bid for the FPO between April 18 and 22. The board will meet today to consider the price band and discount for the FPO, and the roadshow for the FPO will begin on April 15.The exchange filing added, “Please note that a meeting of the Capital Raising Committee is scheduled to be held on April 12, 2024, to consider and approve, amongst other things, the price band and discount, if any, as permitted under the provisions of the SEBI ICDR Regulations.”Further, “please note that the company shall be participating in road shows and interacting with investors/analysts that will be held in various cities across India from April 15, 2024, up to the bid closing date,” the filing added.In February, Billionaire industrialist and Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla underlined the group’s firm commitment to cash-strapped telco Vodafone Idea. The chairman asserted that efforts are on to rope in external investors.Birla said, “We remain very committed to Vodafone Idea and as we have said in the public domain, efforts are on to get outside investors.”On how soon such investors could be onboarded, Birla told PTI, “We are making good progress but can’t put in a timeline.” In a statutory filing, VIL said the board of directors will consider and evaluate all proposals for “raising of funds in one or more tranches by way of a rights issue, further public offer, private placement, including preferential allotment, qualified institutions placement or through any other permissible mode or combination”.The capital raise could be by way of the issue of equity shares or by way of any instruments, including “securities convertible into equity shares, Global Depository Receipts, American Depository Receipts, or bonds, including foreign currency convertible bonds, convertible debentures, warrants, or non-convertible debentures including non-convertible debentures, along with warrants, which may or may not be listed”.