NEW DELHI: Amidst mounting losses and an eroding subscriber base Vodafone Idea’s chief executive officer (CEO) Balesh Sharma has quit his post, with the company stating on Monday that another Vodafone Group executive -- Ravinder Takkar -- will replace him at the helm with immediate effect.
“The Board… has accepted Balesh Sharma’s request for personal reasons to step down as CEO of Vodafone Idea. Balesh will be taking up a new role with Vodafone Group, which will be announced in due course,” the company said.
Sharma was Vodafone’s representative in the joint venture between British telecom giant Vodafone and Aditya Birla Group’s Idea, formed last year by a merger between Vodafone’s India business and Idea Cellular.
Kumar Mangalam Birla, the Chairman of Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Idea, said that under “Balesh’s stewardship, Vodafone Idea has realised a significant proportion of the synergies in a much shorter timescale than originally estimated”.
Birla also added that Sharma’s successor Takkar was well versed with the Vodafone Idea business context and that he would successfully steer the company through the next phase of development.