The Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group PLC have started talks on the “closing adjustments” of the merger between Idea Cellular and Vodafone India, and the discussions are focused on how to resolve Idea’s losses incurred since the announcement of the deal in March. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2018.
Idea’s consolidated loss went up from Rs 328 crore for the three months ended March 31, 2017, to Rs 1,107 crore for the September quarter — thanks to increased competition from Reliance Jio, which is offering free voice calls to its customers.
“In any merger, it