Helped by an increased customer base, British telecom giant Vodafone Group today posted a

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6.3 per cent growth in its India business revenue to 1.02 billion pounds for the third fiscal quarter.

Vodafone India had a revenue of 963 pounds during the October-December quarter in 2010, Vodafone Group Plc said in a statement.

Its India business outperformed Vodafone's overall global revenue, which fell by 2.3 per cent to 11.61 billion pounds for the quarter ended December 31, 2011.

"Service revenue in India grew by 20 per cent driven by an increase in the customer base, and 46.4 per cent growth in data revenue," the company added.

As of December 31, 2011, Vodafone India has 31.2 million data customers.

"Whilst the market remains highly competitive, the effective rate per minute increased slightly compared to second quarter following the penetration of recent price rises into the customer base," the company said.

Last month, the Group had received a favourable judgment from the Indian Supreme Court in respect of the tax case regarding the acquisition of Vodafone India Ltd in 2007.

Vodafone Group Plc reported a decline of 2.3 per cent in its group revenue of 11.6 billion pounds for the third quarter ended December 31, 2011, due to increasing economic pressure in Europe.

In contrast, service revenues from Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific, grew by 7.6 per cent as a result of continued strong momentum in India.

The Group said it will continue to make progress in emerging markets, despite the further deterioration of the European economic environment during the quarter.

The revenues from European operations dropped by 1.7 per cent, compared to the preceding quarter, reflecting increased economic pressures in a number of markets.

"We are continuing to make progress in the key strategic areas of data, enterprise and emerging markets," Vodafone Group Chief Executive Vittorio Colao said.

"Despite the further deterioration of the southern European economic environment during the quarter, our broad geographic mix is delivering a resilient overall performance," he added.

For the current financial year, the group has kept its outlook unchanged. Vodafone expects an adjusted operating profit for to be in range of 11.4–11.8 billion pounds for the current financial year.

"We continue to expect a full year EBITDA margin decline at a lower rate than that experienced in the prior financial year," Colao said.