Mumbai/new delhi, July 6 -- Vodafone Idea's Rs.35,000-crore debt plan is facing scrutiny, with lenders prevailing upon the company to scale back its financial projections, while also demanding a corporate guarantee from another Aditya Birla Group firm, according to two people aware of the development. The demands underscore banks' insistence on stronger safeguards before extending one of the sector's biggest loans. The people in the know said the earlier business projections made by the company were too optimistic and have thus been tempered to "manageable levels". Typically, companies submit cashflow and other business projections as part of their borrowing requests. Bankers are still discussing the loan proposal, and no concrete decision has yet been taken, said the people cited earlier. This fresh debt will allow Vodafone Idea (Vi) to execute its much-awaited Rs.45,000 crore capital expenditure to upgrade its network infrastructure. "The corporate guarantee (from an Aditya Birla Group group peer) is necessary for this loan. It is a large bet that banks will have to take on the telco," said one of the two people cited earlier. Issued by a parent or a strong group company, a corporate guarantee acts like a backstop and protects lenders in the case of a default. Promoters the Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Plc own total 25.6% in Vodafone Idea, with Aditya Birla Group holding 9.57% end March. The government owns a 49% stake in the company. According to a third person in the know, State Bank of India's (SBI) investment banking subsidiary SBI Capital Markets is working on the proposal that includes Rs.10,000 crore in non-funded debt as well. Emailed queries on the development sent to Vodafone Idea, SBI and SBI Caps on Friday remained unanswered. In the quarter ended March, Vodafone Idea managed to stabilize its subscriber base at 192.8 million when compared with the previous quarter, and also improved its average revenue per user (Arpu) to Rs.174 a month from Rs.172 in the December quarter on consumer upgrades. The company had lost 5.4 million users as of March end from 198.2 million a year ago. Rival Reliance Jio reported Arpu of Rs.214 a month at the end of March, while Airtel posted Rs.257, both largely flat sequentially. As of March end, Jio had 524.4 million users, while Airtel had 482.4 million users in India. Mint had reported in February that lenders to Vodafone Idea are examining its spectrum dues, subscriber losses and weak user revenue before deciding on its request for a fresh loan. Vodafone Idea chief executive Abhijit Kishore had then-in a post-earnings call in May-said the company was "deeply engaged [with banks]... It's an SBI-led consortium, which is looking into it, which forms part of the PSU [public sector undertaking] banks, the private banks, as well as the foreign banks and we are very confident of closing that very fast." Kishore did not give any timeline for closing the debt round. The timeline of debt fundraise is crucial as besides a Rs.45,000-crore network expansion plan, Vodafone Idea has to pay Rs.49,000 crore towards spectrum dues over the next three years, which would take its cumulative outgo to nearly Rs.1 trillion. The amount also includes a Rs.5,000-6,000 crore interest on the bank debt once the company is able to arrange that. In May, the telecom operator gave an ambitious financial roadmap to generate and secure over Rs.1.08 trillion in cash over the next three years. This after the government lowered its adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues by Rs.23,600 crore to Rs.64,046 crore after recalculation, deferring bulk of its payments by 10 years, to be paid from fiscal year 2036 (FY36) to FY41....