AV Birla Group to give up cellular business

Mumbai: The Aditya Birla group has decided to quit the cellular business by selling the group's 33.13 per cent stake in Idea, the cellular operating company, in which the Tata group and US telecom giant AT&T also hold similar stakes.

With growth opportunities in its core metals and cement businesses beckoning, the Rs 27,000 crore group has initiated discussions with the Tata group, the American Insurance Group (AIG) and the Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry group to sell its one-third holding in the cellular company, industry sources say.

The sources add that after the Tatas and AIG turned down the proposal to buy the equity, the AV Birla group is in discussions with Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, a private firm with interests in construction and road-building. Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry is also the single-largest shareholder in Tata Sons, the holding company of the Rs 46,000 crore Tata group.

While an AV Birla Group spokeswoman denied the development, officials at the Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry group were unavailable for comment. But AV Birla group sources confirmed the group's decision to exit from the cellular business. “It is a possibility,“ top sources say. Idea (formerly Birla AT&T Tata) was created after Birla AT&T merged with Tata Cellular.