Kumar Mangalam Birla steps down as non-executive chairman of Vodafone Idea

Kumar Mangalam Birla will step down down as non-executive director and non-executive chairman of Vodafone Idea effective from close of the business hours on August 4, 2021, the company said on Wednesday.




“The Board of Directors of Vodafone Idea Limited, at its meeting held today, have accepted the request of Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla to step down as Non-Executive Director and Non-Executive Chairman of the Board with effect from close of business hours on 4th August, 2021,” the company said in a regulatory filing.

The board of directors of Vodafone -Idea Limited at its meeting has accepted the request of Birla. The board, in the meanwhile, has unanimously elected current Non-Executive Director Himanshu Kapania as the non-executive chairman of the firm. Kapania is a telecom industry veteran with 25 years of experience, including significant board experience in telecom companies globally

Last month, the Aditya Birla Group chairman had written a letter to the Government of India in which he offered to hand over his stake in Vodafone-Idea (Vi) to any public sector entity considering the “looming crisis” before the telecom operator. After Birla’s letter came out in public, the shares of Vi tumbled over 16 percent on August 4.

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“It is with a sense of duty towards the 270 million Indians connected by Vodafone Idea, I am more than willing to hand over my stake in the company to any entity—public sector/government /domestic financial entity or any other that the government may consider worthy of keeping the company as a going concern,” Birla said in the letter, parts of which were reviewed by Mint.

Vodafone Idea has recently expressed its inability to pay the telecom department the instalment of ₹8,292 crore that is due on April 9, 2022, since the company’s cash will be used for payment of AGR dues.