In March last year Vodafone India and Idea Cellular announced merger of both the companies, which was expected to close last year. Earlier this week the companies said that the management team of the combined business would be confirmed prior to closing, which is now expected to complete in the first half of the current calendar year. Today they have announced the leadership team of the combined business, which will come into effect after the merger has been completed.
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 of the merger that the two businesses will cease to operate as distinct and competing entities.
As announced last year, Kumar Mangalam Birla will be Non-Executive Chairman of the merged company. CEO will be Balesh Sharma (currently Chief Operating Officer of Vodafone India) who will be responsible for the combined business’s strategy and its execution as well as driving integration.
The following positions will report to the CEO:
- CFO – Akshaya Moondra, currently Chief Financial Officer at Idea.
- COO – Ambrish Jain, currently Deputy Managing Director at Idea, will be responsible for Circles Operations and Service Delivery.
- Nick Gliddon, currently Director – Vodafone Business Services at Vodafone India, will be responsible for the Enterprise Business.
- Manish Dawar, currently CFO of Vodafone India, will have overall responsibility for integration planning, governance and execution.
- Sashi Shankar, currently Chief Marketing Officer at Idea, will be responsible for Marketing and Brand strategy for the consumer business.
- Vishant Vora, currently Chief Technology Officer of Vodafone India, will have responsibility for networks and overall technology strategy.
- Prakash Paranjape, currently Chief Information Officer at Idea, will be responsible for the company’s IT operations.
- Suvamoy Roy Choudhury, who leads Vodafone India’s Human Resources, will be responsible for the Human Resources function.
- Kavita Nair currently the Associate Director, Commercial Operations, at Vodafone India, will lead digital transformation across all functions.
- 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.
- Rajesh Srivastava, currently Chief Commercial Officer at Idea will hold charge of the Procurement Function.
Anil Tandon and Rajat Mukherjee, currently Head of Technology and Head of Corporate Affairs of Idea will be full time advisers to the merged business in their respective areas of expertise, working closely with Vishant and Balaji, respectively.
Himanshu Kapania and Sunil Sood will continue in their current roles until such time as the merger completes. Sunil Sood will join the Vodafone Group AMAP Leadership Team and also help governance through Board memberships. The Aditya Birla Group intends to nominate Himanshu Kapania as non-executive Board member of the merged entity.