Looking to exit Vodafone next year: Ajay Piramal

Piramal Enterprises is looking to exit next year its investment in Vodafone Group Plc's local mobile phone unit, the drugmaker's chairman Ajay Piramal said on Friday.

Piramal owns an 11 per cent stake in Vodafone India Ltd, which is the country's second-biggest

phone carrier. Piramal had bought the stake in two stages for a total of about Rs 5,900 crore (Rs 59 billion).

Vodafone has the first right to buy the stake from Piramal if a planned listing of the phone unit does not happen within 18 months, Piramal said in February last year.

Piramal had said the company expected an annual return of up to 20 per cent from the investment.