In morning trade, the stock was down 19.9% at Rs4.83.
Birla is being replaced by Himanshu Kapania, currently a non-executive director and a former managing director of the erstwhile Idea Cellular before its merger with Vodafone India.
“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 notice to stock exchanges on Wednesday.
About two months ago, Birla wrote to the government, offering to hand over the group’s 27.66 % stake in Vi to any public sector or domestic financial entity who could keep the company afloat. He had also asserted that without immediate government support, the telco would be driven to an irretrievable point of collapse.
The Vodafone Group didn’t comment on Birla’s letter. But its CEO Nick Read on July 23 – over a month and a half after Birla’s June 7 letter – reiterated UK major’s stance that it won’t infuse any more equity in its Indian JV.
Vi’s precarious position is at a time when the Centre is preparing a relief package for the telecom sector, which would also benefit Vi. The package could include allowing surrender of spectrum, reduction of bank guarantees, phasing out or reducing levies such as licence fees and spectrum usage charges and prospectively redefine adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to exclude non-telecom items.
