Kumar Mangalam Birla seeks govt intervention

New Delhi: Nearly a month after quitting as the Chairman of Vodafone Idea (VIL), Kumar Mangalam Birla has met Union Minister for Communications Ashwini Vaishnav. The meet comes at a time when the government is in talks to come up with some relief measures for the stressed telecom sector as a whole.

According to people in the know, during the meeting on Wednesday, Birla and Vaishnav discussed about the health of the sector and the urgent need for government intervention. On August 4, the board of Vodafone Idea accepted the request of Birla to step down as the Non-Executive Director and Non-Executive Chairman of the Board.

Days before Birla's resignation as the Chairman, it became public that he had written to the Cabinet Secretary that he is willing to hand over his stake in the debt-ridden company to government entities in a bid to keep the company operational.

In a letter to Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on June 7, Birla said that, with a sense of duty towards 27 crore Indians connected with Vodafone Idea, Birla is willing to hand over his stake to public Sector Unit (PSU), a government entity or any domestic financial entity, or any other entity that the government may consider worthy of keeping the company as a going concern.

In the letter, Birla sought clarity on adjusted gross revenue (AGR), adequate moratorium on spectrum dues and floor pricing adding that without immediate and active government support VIL's operations will be at an irretrievable point of collapse.