Vodafone Clears Regulatory Hurdles In Indian Acquisition

India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has cleared the sale of Hutchison’s share of Hutchison Essar to Vodafone, which will now work on rebranding the service Vodafone Essar and divest the share it has in competitor Bharti, reports, Reuters. The issue which delayed Vodafone getting FIPB clearance was whether the Indian telco would end up having more than 74 percent of the company held in “foreign hands”, but the regulator has decided that’s not the case and it’s likely the finance minister will rubber-stamp the deal. However, the shares of the company that some Indians are holding on behalf of Vodafone will be more difficult for the carrier to buy or sell — and Forbes earlier reported that the price could no longer be set which means they might be more expensive.

Still, Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin is quite bullish about Vodafone Essar, saying that he expects to raise the company’s marketshare from 16 percent to 20-25 percent in a few years, and also introduce services such as mobile banking.

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