Kumar Mangalam Birla to head Vodafone India-Idea Cellular

Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla will be the non-executive chairman of the company formed post the merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India.

The two telecom players have proposed a new leadership team with extensive operational experience for the soon-to-be merged entity, the details of which were made public on Thursday.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, Aditya Birla Group and Vittorio Colao, chief executive, Vodafone Group, said in a joint statement, "The team has extensive operational experience and is an excellent blend of expertise from both companies," the statement said, adding that completion of the merger will help compete as one company in the marketplace.

The existing leadership teams of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India will continue to manage their separate businesses and be accountable for each company's operational performance until the merger becomes effective. It is only upon completion that the two businesses will cease to operate as distinct and competing entities.

The telecom players said, "The proposed leadership team of the combined business (effective post the merger) is in line with the original merger announcement of March 20, 2017, which said that the management team of the combined business would be confirmed prior to closing."

The top deck for the merged entity will have Balesh Sharma as the chief executive officer responsible for the combined business' strategy and its execution as well as driving integration. Sharma is currently chief operating officer of Vodafone India.

Akshaya Moondra, currently the chief financial officer (CFO) of Idea will be CFO. The current deputy managing director of Idea Ambrish Jain will be chief operating officer responsible for circles operations and service delivery.

Himanshu Kapania and Sunil Sood, the leadership of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India, respectively, will continue in their current roles until such time as the merger completes. According to the telecom players, the commercial, operational and strategic experience of two executives are extremely important to both businesses and their support will be crucial during the initial phase of the integration once the merger is completed.

"The Aditya Birla Group intends to nominate Himanshu Kapania as non-executive board member of the merged entity and draw upon his vast experience in the broader group, with a significant assignment in the group post-merger. Sunil Sood will join the Vodafone Group AMAP leadership team and also help governance through board memberships," the statement said.

Nick Gliddon, currently director - Vodafone Business Services, Vodafone India, will be responsible for the enterprise business while current CFO of Vodafone India Manish Dawar will have overall responsibility for integration planning, governance and execution. Sashi Shankar, currently chief marketing officer at Idea, will be responsible for the marketing and the brand strategy for the consumer business.

Vodafone India's current chief technology officer Vishant Vora will have responsibility for networks and overall technology strategy. The company's IT operations will be looked after by Prakash Paranjape who is currently chief information officer of Idea.

Suvamoy Roy Choudhury, who leads human resources function at Vodafone India will have the same responsibility in the merged entity. Kavita Nair currently the associate director - commercial operations at Vodafone India will lead digital transformation across all functions.

Navanit Narayan, presently Idea's chief service delivery officer will be in charge of strategy and P Balaji who is Vodafone India's head of regulatory, external affairs and CSR will be responsible for corporate and external affairs in the new company.

Vodafone India's current general counsel Kumar Das will lead the legal function while Idea's chief commercial officer Rajesh Srivastava will hold charge of the procurement function. Anil Tandon and Rajat Mukherjee, currently head of technology and head of corporate affairs at Idea will be full-time advisers to the merged business in their respective areas of expertise.

All the above positions will report to the CEO of the new entity.

Both Idea and Vodafone continue to make good progress in securing the required regulatory approvals for the merger. Its completion is expected to be in the first half of the current calendar year, subject to all approvals coming through as planned.