Mumbai: Vodafone Group and Idea Cellular on Thursday announced the management team of the combined entity, which will come into effect after the merger is complete.

Kumar Mangalam Birla will be the non-executive chairman of the board of the merged company.

Balesh Sharma, who is now the chief operating officer of Vodafone India, will be the CEO. Sharma will be responsible for the combined entity's strategy, execution and integration.

According to a joint press statement, Idea Cellular managing director Himanshu Kapania and Vodafone India managing director and CEO Sunil Sood will continue in their current roles till the merger is completed.

The statement added that the Aditya Birla group intends to nominate Kapania as a non-executive board member of the merged entity.

It further indicated that Kapania will have a "significant assignment" in the group after the merger.

Sood will join the Vodafone Group AMAP (Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific) leadership team.

"We are pleased to announce the proposed management team for the new company to be created through the merger of Idea and Vodafone India," Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and Vodafone group chief executive Vittorio Colao said in a joint statement.

"The team has extensive operational experience and is an excellent blend of expertise from both companies. We look forward to the completion of the merger and competing as one company in the marketplace," the statement said.

There will also be 13 positions that will report to the CEO. This will include CFO Akshaya Moondra, (currently, the chief financial officer of Idea Cellular) and COO Ambrish Jain (now deputy managing director of Idea) who will be handling circle operations and service delivery.

Nick Gliddon, who is now director-Vodafone business services at Vodafone India, will be responsible for the enterprise business.

Manish Dawar, CFO of Vodafone India, will oversee integration planning, governance and execution.

Sashi Shankar, who is now the chief marketing officer at Idea Cellular, will be responsible for the marketing and brand strategy of the consumer business.