The minority shareholders as well as the former and present owners of mobile firm Hutch-Essar called on Finance Secretary Ashok Jha on Thursday to discuss sale of majority stake by Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecom to UK's Vodafone.

The meeting between Hutch-Essar stakeholders and Jha comes ahead of Friday's meeting of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, which is likely to decide whether or not the Hutch-Vodafone deal is compliant with foreign direct investment norms.

"We met the finance secretary to clarify our submission of April 9. And we will await the outcome of FIPB on Friday. "Let FIPB take its own time, we will not interfere in the process of law. We respect the government way of functioning, I expect nothing from Friday's meeting. That was not the aim of the meeting..." Hutch-Essar Managing Director Asim Ghosh, who is one of the minority shareholders of the company, told reporters in New Delhi.

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Besides Ghosh, the other minority stakeholder Max India Chairman Analjit Singh and officials of Vodafone and Hutchison Telecom were present at the meeting.

FIPB, which has deferred a decision on the matter thrice, has been looking into allegations that Foreign Direct Investment in Hutch-Essar is beyond the permissible 74 per cent.

Ghosh did not share any other details from the meeting with Jha. Vodafone had acquired control of the company in February this year, but needs FIPB clearance to implement the deal.

The race for Hutch-Essar