Birla offers his stake in Vi to Govt to stave off company's collapse

New Delhi: Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the telecommunications company Vi, has offered his stake in the company to any the government-run entities to ensure Vi's smooth running, reported The Indian Express.

According to the report, Birla, who is on to raise Rs 25,000 crore from various investors, has written to the Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba narrating where the adjusted gross revenue liability has placed the company in the telecom market and apprehension shared by the potential investors who want to know whether the government is interested in running the telecom sector with the three major telecos.

In the letter, The Indian Expressed is claimed to have seen a copy of it which was dated June 7, Birla has also sought the Union government's helping hand to resolve the AGR liability, an adequate moratorium on spectrum payments, and a floor pricing regime above the cost of service.

Birla is said to have expressed his apprehensions about the delay in resolving the three above mentioned issues, saying that if there had no concrete action by July the telco's operations would be driven to an "irretrievable point of collapse", given its financial situation.

Birla owns more than a 27 per cent stake in Vi; the partner and global firm Vodafone Plc holds over 44 per cent. It has to pay a total AGR of more than Rs 60,000 crore over 10 years, or nearly Rs 1,500 crore every quarter between 2021 and 2031.

In addition, the company owed Rs 96,270 crore as deferred spectrum obligations and another Rs 23,000 crore to banks and financial institutions as of March 31 this year.