P Balaji resigns from Vodafone Idea after 9 years

Regulatory officer exits VIL: Marking another top-level exit for Vodafone Idea Limited, P. Balaji, Chief Regulatory & Corporate Affairs Officer has resigned from the company after an almost decade-long stint.

Vodafone Idea is the third telco for Indian consumers in terms of volume. 

As per a regulatory filing, he will cease to be a senior management personnel of the merged telecom between Aditya Birla’s Idea Group and British telecom company Vodafone from January 10, 2024.

In his resignation, Balaji cited personal reasons for his departure and sought waiving of his contractual notice period.

Who is P. Balaji?

Balaji has been with Nokia, Sony and Ericcson in senior leadership positions in his 30-year long stint in the telecom industry.

He joined Vodafone India nine years ago as their Director for Regulatory, External Affairs and CSR. 

After this, Balaji took charge of leading the company’s Regulatory, Public Policy & Government Relations activities. He also helmed the External Affairs function overseeing Corporate Communications, Reputation Management and administering Corporate Social Responsibility and the Vodafone Foundation in India.

The Vodafone-Idea merger in August 2018 brought on the hefty charge of him becoming the Chief Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Officer, heading the company’s Regulatory, Public Policy and Government Relations activities along with Industry Advocacy, Corporate Communications, Reputation Management and CSR.

Before joining Vodafone India, Balaji served as the managing director at Nokia India and Sony Mobile. 

He has also held senior leadership positions in startup and turn-around ventures of Tata Group, AT&T, Ericsson, Lucent and Sony.

Balaji is a graduate in electronics engineering from IIT Roorkee, after which he completed his MBA in marketing, finance and strategy from IIM Ahmedabad.

Vodafone's troubles 

VIL has not yet issued a statement on the departure.

The government holds 33.1 per cent stake in the troubled telco, which is fast losing subscribers on the back of Jio and Airtel expanding their user base.

Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan said the government is not considering any proposal to take over Vodafone Idea (VIL), in a written reply to Lok Sabha during the winter session.

VIL has lost almost 8 lakh subscribers, with their user base at 22.75 crores. The troubled telecom is looking for a fundraise, with recent reports around Starlink and earlier, Verizon’s cash induction was refuted by the company on exchanges. Stocks plunged after the telco denied the development yesterday.

Expressing hope in the business, Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla returned to the board of Vodafone Idea as an additional director two years after he stepped down as the non-executive chairman of the merged telecom entity in August 2021.