The company has accepted Sharma’s resignation and replaced him with the representative of Vodafone Group, Ravinder Takkar. Sharma was the representative of Vodafone in the JV between British telecom giant Vodafone and Aditya Birla Group’s Idea that was formed to fight the onslaught of free calls and dirt cheap data plans unleashed by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio.

“The Board of Vodafone Idea Limited today announced that it has accepted Balesh Sharma’s request for personal reasons to step down as CEO of Vodafone Idea. Balesh will be taking up a new role with Vodafone Group, which will be announced in due course,” a company statement said. Takkar will be appointed as his successor with immediate effect, the statement added.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, the Chairman of Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Idea, said, “Under Balesh’s stewardship, Vodafone Idea has realised a significant proportion of the synergies in a much shorter timescale than originally estimated.” Birla said Takkar is well versed with the Vodafone Idea business context, and exuded confidence that he will successfully steer the company through the next phase of development and help unlock its full potential.