Idea Cellular MD Sanjeev Aga to step down

Idea Cellular, India's No 6 mobile phone operator, yesterday said its managing director Sanjeev Aga would step down from his post ahead of his scheduled retirement. The company declined to provide further details.

In a statement to the stock exchange, the company said Aga would retire from 1 April 2011, but would continue as director on the company's board.

Idea is a group company of the Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla Group, which has interests ranging from cement to retail. Kumar Mangalam Birla with a net worth of $8.5 billion has been raked by Forbes magazine as India's tenth richest man.

Aga's departure comes at a time when the telecom sector is passing through a testing phase. The company might be called on to make additional payments for the wireless radio spectrum it already holds, following a government auditor naming it among nine firms that were allotted airwaves in excess of the upper limit without paying any upfront charges.

The Indian telecom industry has been hit by a massive corruption scandal with the comptroller and auditor general finding several irregularities, including cheap sale of licences, causing the government a $39 billion loss of revenue.

Under Aga, Idea raised around $540 million through an IPO in 2007. It went on to expand 2G mobile operations to all of India, and won 11 of India's 22 zones in an auction of 3G wireless spectrum.