Vodafone Idea shares continue to decline; further tumble over 24%

Birla, who has a net worth of $14 billion according to Forbes, will be replaced by Aditya Birla Group-nominee Himanshu Kapania

Shares of Vodafone Idea Ltd continued to tumble for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday and further plunged over 24 per cent to its 52-week low in morning trade.

The counter has been bearing a deserted look of late and has tumbled nearly 45 per cent in four trading sessions.

On Thursday, the stock plunged 24.54 per cent to its 52-week low of Rs 4.55 on the BSE.

At the NSE, it cracked 24.16 per cent to its 52-week low of Rs 4.55.

Kumar Mangalam Birla on Wednesday stepped down as the chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd.

Read | Kumar Mangalam Birla steps down as non-executive chairman of Vodafone Idea

Birla -- who had in June offered to give away his holding in the joint venture with Britain's Vodafone to the government -- will cease to be a director and non-executive chairman of the company at the end of business hours on Wednesday, VIL had said in a filing to the stock exchanges.

It did not give any reason for Birla's decision.

He will be replaced by Himanshu Kapania (who was earlier the managing director and CEO of Birla's Idea Cellular) as the new chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd.

The Supreme Court, last month, had rejected petitions by telecom companies including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, for rectification of alleged errors in calculation of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) related dues payable by them.

According to official data, VIL had an AGR liability of Rs 58,254 crore, out of which it has paid Rs 7,854.37 crore while Rs 50,399.63 crore is outstanding.

In the BSE filing on Wednesday evening, VIL said: "The Board of Directors of Vodafone Idea, at its meeting, have accepted the request of Kumar Mangalam Birla to step down as Non-Executive Director and Non-Executive Chairman of the Board with effect from close of business hours on 4 August, 2021."

Consequently, the board has "unanimously elected" Himanshu Kapania, currently a non-executive director and a nominee of the Aditya Birla Group, as the non-executive chairman.