British telecommunications giant Vodafone Plc is preparing to hike its stake in its India arm, a person with direct knowledge of the matter revealed.

The highly-placed source in the telecommunications firm said Vodafone is getting ready to file an application with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to hike its stake in Vodafone India from current 74 per cent to 100 per cent.

The source also claimed that the British firm was ready to pay $2.8 billion (around Rs 17,304 crore) for acquiring the remaining stake to gain full control of its Indian arm.

It is now possible for foreign telecom companies to gain full control of local carriers, thanks to the government's decision of increasing the FDI limit in the sector to 100 per cent.

Even today the British firm enjoys full management control over its Indian arm as its partners are only minority investors, who have no active roles in the management of the company. The company's largest Indian stakeholder is Piramal Group, which own 11 per cent stake. The remaining 15 per cent stake is owned by a group of shareholders headed by Max Group's Analjit Singh.

Vodafone India reported a jump of 24.5 per cent in operating profit to Rs 10,641 crore for the last financial year ended March 31, 2013. The company's revenue climbed 10.2 per cent year-on-year to Rs 35,886 crore.