The boards of Vodafone India (India’s number 2 telecom operator) and Idea (India’s number 3 telecom operator) announced their merger on March 20, 2017 to create India’s largest telecommunications company with almost 400 million customers, 35%customer market share and 41% revenue market share. Under the proposed merger, Vodafone will own 45.1% of the combined company after transferring a 4.9% stake to the Aditya Birla Group for INR 39 billion (US$579 million) in cash, concurrent with completion of the merger. The Aditya Birla Group will then own 26.0%of the combined company and Idea’s other shareholders will own the remaining 28.9%.Furthermore, Aditya Birla Group would have the right to acquire up to a 9.5% additional stake from Vodafone so that both partners can have equal stakes in terms of shareholding.