Mumbai: Vodafone plans to invest two billion dollars in India this year for expanding its business. In a clear shift in strategy of becoming a mass telecom player in the country, Hutchison-Essar is looking at adding over 1.5 million subscribers a month this financial year, which would mean an addition of 18 million customers in the year.

That would translate in a 65 per cent growth in company''s subscriber numbers by the end of twelve months.

The company has recently constituted a new Board to administer India''s third-largest mobile firm Hutch-Essar. The constitution of the Board marks the beginning of integration of Vodafone and its Indian partner Essar, which is hoped to be completed by September this year.

The new board has 12 members — four from Essar and eight from Vodafone, including two independent directors. The company has not decided to defer changing the brand name of its services. Vodafone is also keen on creating a platform for infrastructure sharing.