Birla quits VIL board
Industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla on Wednesday stepped down as the chairman of debtladen Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL). Birla will cease to be a director and non-executive chairman of the company at the end of business hours on Wednesday, VIL said in a filing to the stock exchanges. The company did not give any reason for Birla's decision.
Biral will be replaced by Himanshu Kapania—who was managing director and CEO of Birla's Idea Cellular before the firm merged with Britain's Vodafone in a $23-billion deal three years ago—as VIL chairman.
The billionaire businessman had, in a letter to the Cabinet secretary in June, offered to give away his holding in the joint venture to the government.
The Supreme Court, last month, had rejected petitions by telecom companies, including Vodafone
Idea, for rectification of alleged errors in calculation of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) related dues payable by them.
‘VIL’s lawyers had told the apex court that the firm was making a loss and could "go under" if the rectification was not allowed.
Official data shows VIL had an AGR liability of Rs 58,254 crore, out of which it has paid Rs 7,854.37 crore while Rs 50,399.63 crore is still outstanding.
In the regulatory filing on Wednesday, VIL said: "The board of directors of
Vodafone Idea, at its meeting held today, have accepted the request of 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 4 August, 2021."
Consequently, the board has "unanimously elected" Himanshu Kapania, currently a non-executive director and a nominee of the Aditya Birla Group, as the non-executive chairman.
Kapania is a telecom industry veteran with board experience in global telecom firms. He had also been on the Global GSMA Board and was chairman of the Cellular Operators Association of India.
In the June 7 letter to Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba, Birla, who holds around 27 per cent stake in VIL, said investors were not willing to invest in the company in the absence of clarity on AGR liability and adequate moratorium on spectrum payments.