K M Birla meets telecom secretary after raising concerns about the sector

This is the second such meeting between the industry honcho and the communications ministry over the last few days

Press Trust of India  |  New Delhi 

Kumar Mangalam Birla
Kumar Mangalam Birla

Just days after raising concerns over stress in the sector, Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla Thursday held another round of talks with Secretary Aruna Sundararajan.

Birla, who was flanked by other senior officials of and Himanshu Kapania, vice-chairman at Grasim Industries (also Board member of Ltd) met Sundararajan for nearly 30 minutes.

Emerging from the meeting, Birla, however, refused to comment on the deliberations.

This is the second such meeting between the industry honcho and the communications ministry over the last few days.

Birla had earlier expressed concerns over the severe liquidity crunch in the industry and has sent an SOS to the government for deferring statutory payments in a sector that is not generating enough cash to even service loans.

The has been battered by falling tariffs, eroding profitability, and mounting debt in the face of stiff competition triggered by disruptive offerings of Reliance Jio, owned by richest Indian Mukesh Ambani.

Birla, who heads Vodafone Idea -- the country's largest mobile operator, had also raised issues around high spectrum payouts and levies during his meeting, earlier this month, with Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha as well as Sundararajan.

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First Published: Thu, November 22 2018. 18:36 IST