Idea Cellular shares gain over 4% on reports of final govt nod to merge with Vodafone

New Delhi: Shares of Idea Cellular rose by over 4 percent on Thursday amid reports that the government gave final approval to the mega-merger of Vodafone and the company. The stock moved up by 3.64 percent to settle at Rs 56.95 on BSE. During the day, it soared 4.64 percent to Rs 57.50. On NSE, shares of the company jumped 4.18 percent to close at Rs 57.20. [caption id=“attachment_4317669” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] The company’s market valuation rose by Rs 872.68 crore to Rs 24,829.68 crore. In terms of equity volume, 17.77 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over 2 crore shares changed hands on NSE during the day. A senior DoT official on Thursday said that the final approval of the mega Idea-Vodafone has been accorded on Thursday and the entities will now approach Registrar of Companies (RoC) for stipulated filings for approval, completing the last leg of formalities. The move comes just days after Idea Cellular and Vodafone India made a joint payment of Rs 7,268.78 crore ‘under protest’ to the Department of Telecom (DoT) for merging their mobile businesses. The merger will create the country’s largest mobile operator with 35 percent market share and around 430 million subscribers.