India's telecom giants Vodafone India is merging with Idea Cellular to become a single entity will be known as Vodafone Idea Ltd. This is the first Indian telecom market since the entry of Reliance Jio which is posing a formidable competition against the existing players. The merger is expected to be completing all legal formalities in 2018 and the approval is in the final stage with the department of telecom. Post legal formalities and fresh issuance of the certificate of the incorporation by the Registrar of the Companies, the old name "Idea Cellular Limited" will be replaced by "Vodafone Idea Limited". Once the merger is complete, the entire business of Vodafone India and Vodafone Mobile Services - excluding Indus Towers' investment, international assets, and IT platforms - will vest in the company. Aditya Birla Group receives 4.9% stakes from Vodafone and $579 million in cash after the merger. The Aditya Birla Group will own 26% of the combined company and Idea's shareholders the remaining 28.9%. According to Vodafone India, the merged entity will become the world's largest telecom operator and a leading communications provider in India "with almost 400 million customers, 35% market share, and a 41% revenue market share". The merged entity will be controlled jointly by Vodafone India and the Aditya Birla Group. Kumar Mangalam Birla is proposed to be the Non-Executive Chairman of the merged entity and Balesh Sharma is likely to be the new CEO. The financial operations of the new entity will be headed by Akshaya Moondra and Ambrish Jain who is currently the deputy MD at Idea Cellular is set to become the new COO.