Debt-laden Vodafone Idea Ltd (Vi) said on Friday that its board has approved changes to the shareholders’ agreement to allow promoters — Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group — to retain governance and management rights, even as the Indian government’s stake in the company has risen to 48.99%.
The proposed amendment, approved during a board meeting on May 2, seeks to revise the “Qualifying Threshold” from 13% to 10% and, crucially, to exclude the government’s equity from this calculation for governance purposes, news agency PTI reported.
“The Board of Directors at its meeting held today i.e. on 2 May 2025 have inter-alia resolved to… amend certain clauses of the Shareholders’ Agreement… so as to modify, amongst others, the ‘Qualifying Threshold’ from 13 per cent to 10 per cent and, solely for this purpose, to disregard the equity shares originally issued to the Government of India,” Vodafone Idea said in a regulatory filing.
The company will seek shareholder approval for these amendments at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) scheduled for June 3.
Following the government’s approval to convert dues worth Rs 36,950 crore into equity, its shareholding rose from 22.6% to 48.99%. Meanwhile, Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group now hold 9.5% and 16.07% respectively.
Under the existing shareholder agreement, promoters retained governance rights as long as they collectively held at least 13% of equity. The revised pact aims to ensure that promoters can continue appointing directors and key executives, even after dilution of their stake.
Vi’s total debt rose to Rs 2.17 lakh crore in the December 2024 quarter, compared to Rs 2.03 lakh crore a year earlier. Of this, Rs 2.14 lakh crore is owed to the government, and Rs 2,300 crore to banks and financial institutions.
This restructuring move is seen as a critical step in maintaining operational continuity and strategic direction under promoter leadership despite the government emerging as the single largest shareholder.

The Supreme Court rejected the Resolution Plan submitted by JSW Steel for Bhushan Steel and Power Ltd.. File
| Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

The Supreme Court, in a judgment, on Friday rejected the Resolution Plan submitted by JSW Steel for Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BPSL).

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal had previously approved the Resolution Plan.

“The judgment passed by the NCLAT in allowing the company appeal of JSW and issuing the directions without any authority of law and without jurisdiction is perverse, coram non judice and liable to be set aside,” a Bench headed by Justice Bela M. Trivedi said.

The court found the Resolution Plan in “flagrant violation and contravention” of the law.

“The Resolution Professional had utterly failed to discharge his statutory duties contemplated under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) Regulations during the course of entire CIR proceedings of the corporate debtor, BPSL,” the Supreme Court concluded.

The court invoked its inherent powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to direct the National Company Law Tribunal to initiate liquidation proceedings against the BPSL under the IBC and in accordance with the law.

The court faulted the Committee of Creditors (CoC) for accepting the Resolution Plan. The court further directed the National Company Law Tribunal to initiate liquidation proceedings against BPSL.

“The CoC had failed to exercise its commercial wisdom while approving the Resolution Plan of the JSW, which was in absolute contravention of the mandatory provisions of IBC and CIRP Regulations. The CoC also had failed to protect the interest of the creditors by taking contradictory stands before this court, and accepting the payments from JSW without any demurrer, and supporting JSW to implement its ill-motivated plan against the interest of the creditors,” Justice Trivedi held.

In a statement, a JSW Steel Spokesperson said they have “learnt that the Hon’ble Supreme Court pronounced judgment on May 2 rejecting the Resolution Plan approved by NCLAT on certain grounds”. The statement said JSW would decide its future course of action after reviewing the judgment with their legal advisors.

Also Read | ED restitutes assets worth ₹4,025 crore in Bhushan Power and Steel case to JSW

Indian Overseas Bank’s (IOB) quarterly net profit raced past ₹1,000 crore for the first time in the quarter ended March on the back of the public sector lender’s total business increasing 11.30% year on year to ₹5,61,958 crore, net interest income (NII) rose 13.03% to ₹3,123 crore and even as a corporate account turned into a non-performing asset (NPA).

Net profit increased a little over 30% to ₹1,051 crore during the fourth quarter compared to ₹808 crore a year earlier. For the December quarter, the Chennai-headquartered bank had reported ₹874 crore net profit.

The IOB Board has approved proposals to raise equity capital up to ₹4,000 crore; and tier II capital by issue of BASEL III-compliant tier II bonds of up to ₹1,000 crore in 2025-26. Both are likely to be raised in a few tranches, Managing Director and CEO Ajay Kumar Srivastava said on Friday.

On completion of the equity capital raise, which is subject to obtaining the approval of shareholders and statutory/regulatory approvals, the government holding in the bank will come down from 94.6% to 90%.

For FY25, IOB’s net profit increased 25.56% to ₹3,335 crore (₹2,656 crore) and NII by 10.79 % at ₹10,890 crore (₹9,829 crore).

Recovery during the March quarter stood at ₹992 crore and for the fiscal at ₹4,014 crore, he said, adding the bank is in a sound position despite the MTNL account of around ₹2,330 crore turning NPA. IOB had made 100% provisioning, he said, pointing out that other banks have also classified MTNL as NPA.

IOB’s gross GNPA ratio stood at 2.14% as on March 31, 2025 as against 3.10% a year earlier, while net NPA ratio was at 0.37% as against 0.57%. Provision coverage ratio improved to 97.30% as on March 31 as against 96.85% a year earlier.

On the outlook for FY26, Mr.Srivastava said IOB expected to grow the business by 13-14%.