Kumar Mangalam Birla
Kumar Mangalam Birla has returned to Vodafone Idea. The company said in its filing on May 5 that he has been made non-executive chairman. He has replaced Ravinder Takkar. The company also said that Takkar will still continue to work as non-executive vice chairman in the telecom company. The special thing is that Birla’s appointment has come at a time when Vodafone Idea has got a huge relief of 27 percent in its Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues.
According to PTI report, on April 30, the Government of India reduced the AGR dues of Vodafone Idea by about 27% to Rs 64,046 crore. This has brought great relief to the company. Besides, the government has also given a time limit of 5 years for payment. The decision was taken after DoT formed a committee to reassess the statutory dues, the report said. Earlier in December, this outstanding was Rs 87,695 crore. Today more than 58 crore shares of Vodafone Idea were traded. After the news of reduction in AGR dues, the company’s shares rose by about 8% and continued to rise for the second consecutive day.
Vodafone Idea’s AGR dispute
The AGR controversy started in 2019, when the Supreme Court ruled that telecom companies will have to pay all statutory dues on the basis of AGR, which will also include non-telecom income. At that time DoT had stated Vi’s AGR dues till FY2017 to be Rs 58,254 crore, whereas according to the company it was around Rs 21,500 crore.
In view of the difference in the assessments of DoT and companies in 2020, the Supreme Court in its order had banned any kind of self-assessment or re-assessment. In 2025, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the curative petition and allowed the government to re-calculate. The government has about 49% stake in Vodafone Idea.
Will good days come for the company’s shares?
When Vodafone Idea recently got relief in AGR, the company’s shares gave a positive response and rose by about 5%. Besides, big brokerage firm Jefferies also increased the target price of the company to Rs 14. Now with Kumar Mangalam Birla becoming the new chairman, the sentiment of investors may become more positive. Its impact may be visible on Vi shares on May 6, 2026.
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