Balesh Sharma to be CEO of Idea-vodafone after merger
NEW DELHI: Vodafone India Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd, which are set to merge by June, named Balesh Sharma as chief executive officer of the combined entity that will become India’s biggest telecom operator, surpassing Bharti Airtel Ltd.
Sharma is currently chief operating officer (COO) of Vodafone India. Kumar Mangalam Birla will be the non-executive chairman of the merged company while Vodafone India chief executive Sunil Sood will join the Vodafone Group’s Africa, Middle East and Asia-pacific leadership team, parent Vodafone Group Plc. said in a statement on Thursday.
The Aditya Birla Group intends to nominate Himanshu Kapania, CEO of Idea, as nonexecutive board member of the merged entity. Akshaya Moondra, currently chief financial officer (CFO) at Idea, will be CFO and Ambrish Jain, currently deputy managing director at Idea, will take over as COO of the merged entity, the statement said.
Both Moondra and Jain will report to Sharma, who will be responsible for the combined business’s strategy and its execution as well as driving integration.
“Vodafone and Idea continue to make good progress in securing the required regulatory approvals for the merger... and completion is expected to be in the first half of the current cal- endar year,” the statement said.
The merger has already received approval from the National Company Law Tribunal, the Competition Commission of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India; it is awaiting final approval from the department of telecommunications.
The merger, aimed at dominating a market that Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd had disrupted with free voice calls and low data prices following its commercial launch in September 2016, will create the world’s second largest and India’s largest telco in terms of subscribers.
The existing leadership teams of Idea and Vodafone India will continue to manage their separate businesses and be accountable for each company’s operational performance until the merger becomes effective, the statement said, adding the two will cease to operate as distinct and competing entities only upon completion of the merger.