Vodafone Idea unveiled a refreshed Vi new logo and identity on 1 September 2026, moving its signature yellow mark from below the “i” to a dynamic 3D sphere on top and changing the wordmark from “V!” to “Vi”. At the same time, the company named Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan as the face of its teaser campaign “Vi badal raha hai… tayaar rahiye” (Vi is changing… Be ready). The dual announcement marks the first visible step of a wider transformation that Vi says will bring new launches and customer experiences in the coming weeks.
What Does the New Vi Logo and Campaign Signify?
Vi is the unified consumer brand of Vodafone Idea Limited, pronounced as “we”. The name itself combines the initials of Vodafone and Idea, and it was first adopted on 7 September 2020 after the two networks completed their merger integration. The Vi logo therefore carries both legacy and continuity for customers who knew the two separate brands before 2020.
The latest refresh keeps the core wordmark and colours of red, white and yellow but changes two visual elements. The familiar flat yellow dot, earlier placed below the “i”, has been reshaped into a rounder, fuller 3D sphere with depth and movement and moved to the top of the “i”. The punctuation style “V!” has been simplified to “Vi”. The company describes the new sphere as a sign of energy, optimism and forward momentum, summed up in its internal tagline “Upwards. Onwards. Together.” Vi calls the change a small visual shift with a larger meaning, pointing to a stronger network and a more rewarding experience ahead.
The campaign built around this identity is titled “Vi badal raha hai… tayaar rahiye”. It was launched as a teaser, with Shah Rukh Khan asking viewers to wait for what is coming next, without yet revealing specific products or tariffs. Chief Executive Officer Abhijit Kishore said the update is not simply a logo refresh but the first expression of a broader evolution. He said the new identity reflects Vi’s ambition to shape telecom as a more rewarding experience and, over the coming weeks, it will be supported by strategic launches, new campaigns and new ways for retail and enterprise customers to engage with the brand. The rollout began on 1 September 2026 and is being introduced gradually across Vi’s app, website, retail stores, Vi Mini Stores and all brand communications.
Who Is Shah Rukh Khan and Why Is He the New Face of Vi?
A brand ambassador is a public figure who represents a company and helps it connect with customers through advertising and public presence. For Vi, the new ambassador is Shah Rukh Khan, often called SRK, one of India’s most recognised actors who has worked in cinema since the early 1990s and is widely known for films such as Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Chennai Express, Pathaan and Jawan.
The company said bringing Khan on board symbolises the energy, ambition and optimism it wants for its next phase. The phrase some users searched as “SRK is on Vi” or “SRK on Vi meaning” simply refers to this association, Shah Rukh Khan featuring on Vi’s advertisements and teaser film for the new campaign. He will be the face of the “Vi badal raha hai… tayaar rahiye” teaser, although Vi has not disclosed the duration of the association.
Khan’s appeal has been measured in independent brand valuations. According to the Kroll India Celebrity Brand Valuation 2025 report released on 5 August 2026, his brand value stood at $177.9 million, the highest among Indian celebrities, up more than 22 percent year on year. He moved from rank three in 2024 to rank one in 2025, ahead of Ranveer Singh ($162.9 million) and Virat Kohli ($158.4 million). The combined value of the top 25 celebrity brands was estimated at $2.0 billion in 2025.
What makes his Vi appointment notable is his long history with telecom brands. Khan has now endorsed all three of India’s large private telecom operators at different stages of the industry’s growth.
| Period | Telecom Brand | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Around 2001 to 2006 | Bharti Airtel | Early mobile expansion, voice and recharge led market |
| December 2015 onward | Reliance Jio | Launch of 4G data services before commercial rollout in 2016 |
| 1 September 2026 onward | Vi (Vodafone Idea) | Refresh of identity and push to retain and win customers |
Industry observers note that this breadth is rare, the same actor trusted by three direct competitors over two decades. Vi is counting on his mass recall and family friendly image to cut through a crowded market where Jio and Airtel already dominate share of voice, especially as it tries to add subscribers after years of losses. Past examples suggest a celebrity can create visibility but cannot by itself fix product or network gaps, so the campaign’s impact will be seen in subscriber additions and churn trends over the next few quarters.
How Did Vodafone Idea Become Vi?
Vodafone Idea Limited is an Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group partnership that provides pan India voice and data services across 2G, 3G, 4G and expanding 5G. It is a publicly listed company on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) under the symbol IDEA, and its registered headquarters is in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company was formed to compete in a market that had been reshaped by the entry of Reliance Jio in 2016 with low data tariffs and strong data demand.
The journey happened in three clear steps. In March 2017, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular announced a merger to combine operations. Idea Cellular was originally promoted by the Aditya Birla Group, while Vodafone India was the Indian unit of the British Vodafone Group Plc, one of the world’s largest telecom companies. After approvals from competition and telecom regulators, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) cleared the deal in July 2018, and the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) gave final approval on 30 August 2018. The merger was completed on 31 August 2018, creating what was then India’s largest telecom operator with nearly 408 million customers, revenue market share of 32.2 percent and leadership in 9 telecom circles.
At that time, the combined entity remained listed as Ideas legal entity but was renamed Vodafone Idea Limited. The shareholding was 45.2 percent for Vodafone Group and 26.0 percent for the Aditya Birla Group on a fully diluted basis, with the rest held by the public. Kumar Mangalam Birla became Chairman, and Balesh Sharma, former Chief Operating Officer of Vodafone India, was appointed as the first Chief Executive Officer of the merged company. The deal aimed for annual synergies of about ₹14,000 crore, including ₹8,400 crore in operating cost savings, and gave the company spectrum of about 1,850 MHz and more than 340,000 broadband sites.
For two years, the company continued to run two separate consumer brands, Vodafone and Idea, while integrating networks, people and processes. The integration involved reworking spectrum, duplicating about 97,000 overlapping sites and deploying technologies such as Dynamic Spectrum Refarming (DSR), M-MIMO, TDD, Small Cells and OpenRAN to build a unified 4G network covering about 1 billion Indians.
On 7 September 2020, the two brands were formally merged into a single identity called Vi. The name Vi was chosen because it is short, simple and reads as “we”, reflecting the collective nature of Indian society while also referencing Vodafone and Idea. The launch was presented as the culmination of the world’s largest telecom integration and as a fresh start to offer world class digital experiences on a stronger 4G network. The 2026 refresh from “V!” to “Vi” with the 3D sphere is therefore an evolution of that 2020 identity, keeping the name and core colours while updating the visual particle customers already recognised.
What Is Vi’s Current Position and Revival Strategy?
As of 2026, Vi is the third largest telecom service provider in India by subscribers, after Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, and the 12th largest mobile network in the world. Its subscriber base, which had fallen from 408 million at the time of the 2018 merger to about 280 million by mid 2020, stood at around 192.80 million to 200 million in 2026, covering more than 1.2 billion Indians with 4G and steadily expanding 5G services. The sector is regulated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), established in 1997 and headquartered in New Delhi, and policy is set by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the Ministry of Communications.
The company has faced sustained financial pressure. Debt levels have been high, and like other operators it has carried large Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues following the Supreme Court’s AGR ruling in 2019, which widened the definition of revenue on which licence fees are calculated. Vi’s performance in recent years has therefore been judged not only on branding but on its ability to fund network investment and retain users against aggressive pricing from rivals.
There are early signs of stabilisation. Vi added 240,114 customers in July 2026, its highest monthly gain in two years. That was its sixth straight month of net additions since February 2026 and contributed to its first quarterly net subscriber addition since the merger in the quarter ending June 2026 (Q1 of 2026-27), after four consecutive quarters of gains. Chief Executive Officer Abhijit Kishore has framed this recovery around a Vi 2.0 strategy built on three pillars, adding customers, delivering double digit revenue growth and tripling cash EBITDA over the next three years.
To fund this, Vi is pursuing a ₹45,000 crore capital expenditure plan over three years and has been working to secure bank funding. It has also signalled a shift from being a pure telecom operator to a technology company, or techco, that offers connectivity as the backbone for digital experiences, enterprise solutions, Internet of Things (IoT) services and entertainment partnerships. The refreshed identity is positioned as the visual starting point for that shift. Vi says the new look will be followed by strategic launches and customer experiences intended to make its retail and enterprise offerings more competitive.
A rebrand is different from a simple brand refresh. A refresh updates visual elements such as a logo while keeping the core brand, which is what Vi has done. A full rebrand would change the name or positioning more deeply. Vi has retained its name, pronunciation and colours, so customers keep their existing SIMs, numbers, recharge plans and pricing while the visual identity changes around them.
How Does Vi Compare with Jio and Airtel?
India’s telecom market is now led by three private operators, with the state owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) also present. Queries such as “Vodafone Idea vs Airtel vs Jio” or “Vi vs Airtel which is better” reflect how consumers compare networks on coverage, price and service rather than only on branding.
| Operator | Brand Owner | Launch / Merger Milestone | Subscriber Scale in 2026 | Key Positioning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliance Jio | Reliance Industries under Mukesh Ambani | Launched September 2016, 4G data led | About 400 million+, largest | Low cost data, digital ecosystem, aggressive pricing |
| Bharti Airtel | Bharti Airtel Limited | Established 1995 | About 380 million+, second | Pan India 5G rollout, enterprise and premium services |
| Vi (Vodafone Idea) | Aditya Birla Group (26 percent) and Vodafone Group (45.2 percent at merger) | Formed 31 August 2018, unified as Vi 7 September 2020, refreshed 1 September 2026 | About 192 to 200 million, third | Value recharges, revived network push, techco ambition |
All three compete on recharge plans, prepaid and postpaid services, porting offers (Vi to Jio port, Vi to Airtel port), 5G rollout, international roaming and customer care (Vi Customer Care). Search interest around “Vi recharge plan”, “Vi 5G”, “Vi store near me” and “Vi share price” shows that users track both service and investment angles. Airtel and Jio spent about 3 to 5 percent of standalone revenue on marketing and sales in FY25 and FY26, with Airtel spending around ₹5,030 crore and Jio around ₹4,507 crore on sales and marketing in FY26, a scale Vi now seeks to match with higher visibility campaigns.
The choice among them depends on local network strength, price and handset support rather than logo alone. Vi’s refreshed identity and Shah Rukh Khan campaign aim to improve recall and consideration, but retaining users will depend on network quality, timely 5G availability and competitive tariffs. The company itself has said existing plans remain unchanged during the visual rollout, so the immediate change for users is aesthetic, with service changes to follow in the announcements promised in the coming weeks.
Key Takeaways
- Vi refreshed its logo on 1 September 2026, changing from “V!” to “Vi” and reshaping the flat yellow dot into a 3D sphere moved to the top of the “i”.
- Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan is the face of Vi’s teaser campaign “Vi badal raha hai… tayaar rahiye”, marking his third telecom endorsement after Airtel (around 2001) and Jio (December 2015).
- Vodafone Idea Limited was formed on 31 August 2018 by the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular and was unified as the single brand Vi on 7 September 2020.
- Vi remains India’s third largest telecom operator with about 192 to 200 million subscribers in 2026, after Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, and is headquartered in Mumbai.
- According to the Kroll India Celebrity Brand Valuation 2025, Shah Rukh Khan topped Indian celebrities with a brand value of $177.9 million, up more than 22 percent year on year.
