The Government Will Not Control Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL)

The government will not control VI, the company’s senior officer cleared.

A day after Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) decided to convert interest on dues to the government into equity.

The company’s CEO said on Wednesday that the government had made its stand very clear that it would take over the operations of the telecom company.

I don’t want to take it into my hands. VIL Managing Director and CEO Ravindra Takkar said in the online briefing that the current promoters are fully committed to managing and running the company’s operations.

Debt-ridden Vodafone Idea (VIL) on Tuesday decided to convert interest arrears of around Rs 16,000 crore to the government into equity, which would amount to about 35.8 percent stake in the company.

If this plan is completed, the government will become one of the largest shareholders of the company. The company currently has a debt of about Rs 1.95 lakh crore.

Takkar said the DoT’s letter regarding the option of converting interest on the dues into equity does not contain any condition that seeks to place the government on the board of directors.

He added that the existing promoters are fully committed to taking over the management of the company’s operations.

He said that our entire dialogue with the government came out in the form of a package.

Even after the announcement of the package, the government clearly stated that it does not want to take over the operations of the company.

The government will not control VI: There is no intention of the Government to take over the operations of the Company.

It wants that there should be three private companies in the market, the government does not want a monopoly or only two companies to have right over the market.

Takkar said the government has made it clear that it wants the company’s promoters to run it and take it forward.

The entire process is expected to be completed in the coming months, he added. “Given that most of the company’s debt liability is towards the government.

It was clear to us that converting some of the debt into equity is a good option for the company to reduce its debt burden,” he said.

The company said that upon completion of this plan, the government’s stake in the company would be around 35.8 percent.

While that of the promoters would be around 28.5 percent (Vodafone Group) and around 17.8 percent (Aditya Birla Group).