Vodafone Idea will shut in absence of govt relief, company will have to opt for insolvency route: Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla

Vodafone Idea will have to be shutdown if the government doesn’t provide relief that the company has sought, its Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_2619644” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Kumar Mangalam Birla. Reuters[/caption] Birla was responding to a query, posed at the ‘Hindustan Times Leadership Summit’, about the company’s course of action going forward in the absence of government relief. Birla said the Aditya Birla Group will not invest any money in the company in the absence of relief from the government. “There is no sense that good money should follow bad money,” he stated. Birla said the company will have to opt for insolvency route in the absence of relief. Birla’s comments come close on the heels of Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read statement in November that the company may head for liquidation of its India business if the government does not ease spectrum fees. Read had called the situation “critical, if you don’t get the remedies being suggested.” At 12:06 hours, the Vodafone Idea stock was quoting at Rs 6.88, down Rs 0.43, or 5.88 percent. — With inputs from PTI