Vodafone COO Balesh Sharma to head merged Idea-Vodafone
23 Mar 2018
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Aditya Birla group chirman Kumar Mangalam Birla will be the non-executive chairman after the merger between Vodafone India and Idea Cellular
In a restructing of the top managements that will be put into place after their merger, Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group have named Vodafone India chief operating officer Balesh Sharma to be the CEO of the new entity after the merger.Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, and Vodafone Group chief executive Vittorio Colao, 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.
On 20 March 2017, Aditya Birla Group company Idea Cellular and Vodafone India (a subsidiary of British telecom major Vodafone Plc) announced plans to merge their operations in the country (See: Idea, Vodafone India announce merger).
Akshaya Moondra, currently chief financial officer of Idea, will be the CFO of the new company, Ambrish Jain, currently deputy managing director of Idea, will be the COO. Nick Gliddon, currently director of Vodafone Business Services will be responsible for the enterprise business, while Manish Dawar, currently CFO of Vodafone India, will have overall responsibility for integration planning, governance and execution.
“We are pleased to announce the proposed management team for the new company to be created through the merger of Idea and Vodafone India. The team has extensive operational experience and is an excellent blend of expertise from both companies. We look forward to the completion of the merger and competing as one company in the marketplace,” Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said.
Sashi Shankar, currently chief marketing officer of Idea, will be responsible for the marketing and brand strategy for consumer business. Vishant Vora, currently chief technology officer of Vodafone India, will be responsible for networks and overall technology strategy.
Prakash Paranjape, currently chief information officer at Idea, will be responsible for the company’s IT operations and Suvamoy Roy Choudhury, who leads Vodafone India’s human resources, will be responsible for the human resource function of the merged entity.
Kavita Nair currently the associate director, commercial operations of Vodafone India, will lead digital transformation across all functions, while Navanit Narayan, currently chief service delivery officer at Idea, will be in charge of Strategy.
P Balaji, currently Vodafone India’s head of regulatory, external affairs and CSR, will be responsible for corporate and external affairs.
Kumar Das, currently Vodafone India’s General Counsel, will lead the legal function, while Rajesh Srivastava, currently chief commercial officer at Idea will hold charge of the procurements.
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, the statement said.
It is only upon completion that the two businesses will cease to operate as distinct and competing entities, it added.
The Aditya Birla Group intends to nominate Himanshu Kapania, now managing director of Idea, as non-executive board member of the merged entity. Sunil Sood, at present MD and CEO of Vodafone, will join the Vodafone Group AMAP leadership team, it added.
