Kumar Mangalam Birla meets telecom secretary amid Voda Idea troubles

New Delhi: Vodafone Idea Ltd chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla met telecom secretary Anshu Prakash on Tuesday amid fears that the government may invoke the company’s bank guarantees, a move that may threaten the very survival of India’s second-largest telecom operator.

“Bank guarantees were discussed in the meeting,” a person aware of the matter said, requesting anonymity. Birla, however, declined to disclose the issues that were discussed in the meeting with Prakash.

Birla’s meeting with top government officials indicate that the billionaire chairman of the Aditya Birla Group is actively involved in efforts to save Vodafone Idea, which has 304 million subscribers and about 13,000 direct employees. Apart from the impact on subscribers and employees, a potential bankruptcy will add to the pile of stressed assets on banks’ books.