Airtel CEO sells entire stake for Rs 7 crores

Mumbai (PTI): Bharti Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli has sold his entire stake of 1.23 lakh shares last week for over Rs 7.20 crore, a move that coincided with the announcement of new Interconnection Usage Charge (IUC) regime which is bound to affect company's revenues.

"I have sold my current holding in Bharti Airtel for personal reasons. I continue to hold 1.80 lakh options in the company, some of which have already vested and the balance will vest from time to time as per the vesting schedule," Kohli, Bharti Airtel's CEO and Joint Managing Director, said in a statement.

According to company spokesperson, these options of 1.80 lakh would be converted into as many number of shares by the middle of next year.

The company separately said in its stock exchange filings that Kohli sold his entire current holding of 1.23 lakh shares for about Rs 7.21 crore on March 6 and March 9 -- resulting in an average sale price of about Rs 586 a share.

On Friday, telecom regulator TRAI had announced the revised IUC regime and slashed the termination charge by about 33 per cent to 20 paise a minute with effect from April 1, 2009, from 33 paise now.