Bharti to let Vodafone sell stake

Bharti Airtel chief Sunil Mittal today gave a go-ahead to British telecom giant Vodafone to sell its equity from his company in the market in case the UK firm acquired Hutch's stake in Hutch-Essar.

"They can go to the market and sell. It is good for the company as well since more of the float gets created," Mittal told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting which began here today.

Vodafone is a front-runner for acquiring Hutchison Telecom's majority stake in the Indian venture Hutch-Essar. Indian partner Essar, Reliance Communications and Hindujas are also interested in picking up the 67 per cent stake.

The British firm has about 9.9 per cent in India's largest mobile operator. The two companies have a non-compete clause in the agreement, and Vodafone has to seek Bharti's permission before buying a stake in a rival company.

Mittal, who is among the four co-chairs of WEF meeting, said his talks for disengagement of Vodafone from Bharti would begin only after something comes out of Essar-Hutch deal.

The CII cice-president said even if Vodafone continued to hold stake in Bharti, the latter would have no problem.

"There would be no conflict of interest since Vodafone would not be in the management," he said.

However, since Vodafone has big aspirations for the growing Indian market, it is likely to exit from Bharti if it is able to strike the Hutch deal.