Mumbai: Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group, which are in the process of merging their operations, have appointed Balesh Sharma as the chief executive officer of the merged entity.
Sharma, who is the chief operating officer (COO) of Vodafone India, will be responsible for the combined business’s strategy and its execution as well as driving integration. Sharma has served as CEO of Vodafone Czech Republic and Vodafone Malta.
Kumar Mangalam Birla will be the non-executive chairman of the board of directors of the merged company. Idea’s present chief financial officer (CFO) Akshaya Moondra will continue to hold that role.
Ambrish Jain, currently deputy managing director at Idea, will be responsible for circles operations and service delivery in his new role as the COO of merged business.
“The existing leadership teams of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India will continue to manage their separate businesses and be accountable for each company’s operational performance until the merger becomes effective,” Idea Cellular said.
