Vodafone Idea names Abhijit Kishore as CEO amid funding, AGR uncertainty

Abhijit Kishore

Vodafone Idea Ltd (Vi) has appointed Abhijit Kishore as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and key managerial personnel for a three-year term, effective August 19, 2025. The appointment follows the completion of current CEO Akshaya Moondra’s three-year term, which ends at the close of business on August 18, 2025.

Kishore steps into the top role at a critical juncture for the debt-laden telecom operator, which is struggling to secure fresh debt financing amid uncertainty over adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liabilities.

The company remains in talks with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the government for clarity and potential relief on the matter, a key factor in enabling future fundraising.

Currently serving as Vi’s Chief Operating Officer, Kishore has been with the company since March 2015, holding multiple senior leadership positions at both circle operations and corporate levels. Before becoming COO, he led the enterprise business as Chief Enterprise Business Officer.

Earlier, he was Circle Business Head for Gujarat and Kerala, where he oversaw the launch of India’s first 4G services. With over 27 years of experience in the Indian telecom industry across functions and geographies, Kishore brings deep operational and strategic expertise to the role.

Moondra, who served as the chief financial officer of the former Idea Cellular between June 2008 and August 2018, was instrumental in bringing together the Vodafone–Idea merger in 2018.  Moondra took over as Vodafone Idea’s CEO in August 2022 on a three-year term, which is set to conclude this month.

Across his years as both CFO and CEO, he spearheaded key measures to stabilise the company’s finances. This included a Rs 25,000 crore rights issue in 2019 aimed at cutting debt and shoring up the balance sheet amid bruising market competition and merger-related stress. During his tenure, the government also converted the telco’s dues twice into equity, offering a temporary breather to the struggling operator.

The last conversion was in March 2025, when the government converted Rs 36,950 crore of Vi’s spectrum auction dues into equity, raising the government’s stake in the company to nearly 48.99%, making it the largest shareholder, while operational control remained with the promoters.