Ravinder Takkar Appointed Vodafone Idea CEO After Balesh Sharma Steps Down

Vodafone Idea Ltd. today said Balesh Sharma has stepped down as chief executive officer of the telecom operator with immediate effect due to personal reasons.

Sharma, who was the chief executive since Vodafone India was merged with Idea Cellular Ltd., will take up a new role with the Vodafone Group, which will be announced in due course, according to an exchange filing.

“I would like to thank Balesh for his leadership and the successful integration of the two businesses,” Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Idea, said in a statement accompanying the filing. “I wish him every success in his next role.”

Meanwhile, the board of the telecom operator appointed Ravinder Takkar, a non-executive director, as managing director and CEO for three years, effective Aug. 19, the filing said.

Vodafone India and Idea Cellular received the final regulatory nod for merger from the National Company Law Tribunal in August last year. The consolidation was triggered by a brutal tariff war started by Mukesh Ambani’s telecom upstart Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.

The mobile operator had in April raised Rs 25,000 crore through rights issue. The company then said its promoters contributed Rs 17,920 crore to the issue compared with their commitment of Rs 18,250 crore, following the scheme’s over-subscription.

Sharma’s resignation comes when the company continues to lose ground to competitors with its subscribers switching to rival networks and opting for lower rental plans. In the first quarter, Vodafone Idea’s core operating profit turned negative as revenue declined and costs rose amid an intense tariff war. In June, Vodafone Idea dropped 41.45 lakh subscribers while its competitor Jio added over 82.6 lakh users, according to data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Since the merger, the market value of the combined entity has also declined 21 percent to Rs 17,241 crore.

Vodafone Idea has declined 81 percent since the merger, compared with a 4.3 percent fall in the Nifty 50 Index in the same period.