Mumbai: Aditya Birla group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has stepped down as Non-Executive Director and Non-Executive Chairman of the Vodafone Idea Limited. After approving Birla's decision to step down from the key positions, the Board of the company on Wednesday informed the stock exchanges that Himanshu Kapania will replace him. “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. Consequently, the Board has unanimously elected Mr. Himanshu Kapania, currently a Non-Executive Director, as the Non-Executive Chairman," the company said in a regulatory filing reviewed by ETV Bharat.
This development comes just a couple of days after Birla's letter to the government surfaced on the troubles faced by the company. In the letter by Birla to Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, he offered to hand over his stake in debt-laden Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) to the government or any other entity that the government may consider worthy to keep the company operational.
According to official data, VIL had an adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liability of Rs 58,254 crore out of which the company has paid Rs 7,854.37 crore and Rs 50,399.63 crore is outstanding. VIL along with Bharti Airtel had approached the Supreme Court for correction in the government calculations but their plea was rejected. In the letter, Birla, who holds around 27 per cent stake in VIL, said investors are not willing to invest in the company in the absence of clarity on AGR liability, adequate moratorium on spectrum payments and most importantly floor pricing regime above the cost of service.
Without immediate active support from the government on the three issues by July, the financial situation of VIL will come to an "irretrievable point of collapse," Birla said in the letter dated June 7. "It is with a sense of duty towards the 27 crore Indians connected by VIL, 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.
According to the latest data from telecom regulator the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the subscriber base of the troubled telecom shrunk by 42.8 lakh users in May 2021 to 27.7 crore users. Media reports further suggest that the firm has lost more than 5.1 crore subscribers since January 2020. (With Agency Inputs)
