Vodafone Idea shares tumble over 24%, pare loss

Shares of Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL), which plunged over 24 per cent in morning trade on Thursday, later recovered most of the lost ground and closed over one per cent lower. The stock has been falling for four consecutive trading sessions, plunging over 28 per cent on the BSE during this time. On Thursday, the stock plunged 24.54 per cent to its 52-week low of Rs 4.55 on the BSE in morning trade. But towards the close of trade, the stock made a comeback and finished at Rs 5.94, lower by 1.49 per cent. On the NSE, after cracking 24.16 per cent to its 52-week low of Rs 4.55 during the day, the stock later closed at Rs 5.95, a decline of 0.83 per cent. Kumar Mangalam Birla on Wednesday stepped down as the chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd. 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 the calculation of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) related dues payable by them.