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Vodafone Idea Ltd’s chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has said that the India’s third largest mobile service provider, will shutdown if the government does not provide relief on the liability it faces in past statutory dues following a Supreme Court order.
“If we we are not getting anything then I think it is end of story for Vodafone Idea,” Birla said at the HT Leadership Summit when asked about the future of Vodafone Idea in absence of a government relief on payment of Rs 53,038 crore dues.
Birla’s Idea Cellular and British telecom giant Vodafone plc’s India unit had merged last year to compete with the onslaught of free voice calling and dirt cheap data unleashed by richest Indian Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio.
In the process, it accumulated Rs 1.17 lakh crore debt and had just weeks back posted corporate India’s biggest loss after it provisioned for the liability arising from the Supreme Court upholding the government’s position on what base should statutory liabilities be calculated.
“It does not make sense to put good money after bad. That would be end of story for us. We will shut shop,” he said in a response when asked if Vodafone Idea will put in more money.
