Birla, an Indian tycoon, returns to the Vodafone Idea board

Earlier in the day, the telecom firm announced that Krishna Kishore Maheshwari, a former top executive at Aditya Birla Group-owned Ultratech Cement Ltd, had stepped down as a non-executive director for personal reasons.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, an Indian billionaire, has rejoined the board of Vodafone Idea Ltd as an additional director, less than two years after leaving the mobile service company.

Birla, a former chairman of the bankrupt telecom company, will join the board on April 20, according to an exchange statement from Vodafone’s Indian joint venture.

He is also the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, which owned 18.07% of Vodafone Idea as of Feb. 7, according to Refinitiv data.

Earlier in the day, the telecom firm announced that Krishna Kishore Maheshwari, a former top executive at Aditya Birla Group-owned Ultratech Cement Ltd, had stepped down as a non-executive director for personal reasons.

Vodafone Idea’s net debt was 2.23 trillion rupees ($27.18 billion) when the Indian government converted roughly $2 billion in debt into stock in February, becoming the company’s largest shareholder.

The government authorised a bailout package for debt-ridden telecom businesses in 2021, allowing them to convert interest on deferred adjusted gross revenue owed to the government into equity.