India's second-largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel will call in March 2026 the final tranche of about Rs 15,741 crore from its 2021 rights issue of Rs 21,000 crore, proceeds from which will be used towards retiring majority of non-government-related debt.
Bharti Airtel said it might look at diluting some of its equity either at Bharti Airtel or at its tower subsidiary as one of the options to fund the $10.7-billion acquisition of African assets of Zain Telecom.
Bharti Airtel on Monday reported a 168 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,593 crore for the September quarter, and the company unveiled top-level changes, including Gopal Vittal moving into the role of executive vice chairman on January 1, 2026. India's second-largest telco - that competes with Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea in the Indian telecom market - clocked quarterly revenues of Rs 41,473 crore, 12 per cent higher than the year-ago period, aided by strong momentum in India and growth in Africa.
Within a year of Gopal Vittal becoming the joint MD and CEO of Bharti Airtel's India operations, the company has elevated him as the MD and CEO for Bharti Airtel's operations in India and South Asia.
Telephone subscribers in the country is expected to reach 300-400 million by 2010 from 100 million currently, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and MD, Bharti Airtel said.
Providing job quotas for the socially underprivileged in private sector should be voluntary and the industry should not be forced to implement reservation, captains of Indian industry said on Tuesday.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal on Wednesday said the telecom sector reforms approved by the Cabinet will ensure that the industry is able to invest fearlessly, and the company will respond to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to invest and accelerate the country's growth. Among a series of breathers for the stressed telecom sector, the Cabinet has approved the inclusion of revenues earned only from telecom services in the adjusted gross revenue (AGR), and the removal of penalty on dues to be paid to the government prospectively. Mittal congratulated and thanked the government for undertaking these seminal reforms to lift an industry that is at the core of his Digital India vision.
Industry leaders on Thursday mourned the death of Ratan Tata saying with his demise India has lost a visionary who shaped its industrial and philanthropic landscape. Tata was a truly remarkable business leader who placed the country before business interests, and whose vision was truly transformational for a country and its people, TVS Motor Co Chairman Emeritus Venu Srinivasan said in a statement. "Mr Tata was a truly remarkable business leader, the likes of whom nations get only once in a century," he added.
Total revenue dropped by 10.5 per cent to Rs 19,634 crore in the fourth quarter of 2017-18
The deal between Bharti group and Tata Teleservices is yet another example of how swiftly things can change in business.
The judge summoned Birla as one of the accused in the case.
In a pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the corporate leaders highlighted several issues, including certain income tax matters which were coming in the way of mergers and acquisitions or slowing them down and roles that need to be played by state businesses to prosper at the ground level.
Ambani and Adani account for a fifth of the net worth of all billionaire promoters in the country and half the combined net worth of the top 10.
Consumer products like mobile phones and laptops may become cheaper as the overall taxes on goods are likely to come down
Hero MotoCorp's promoter Pawan Munjal emerged as the highest paid director.
Business leaders met Manmohan Singh to discuss the problems facing the country.
Sunil Mittal will become executive chairman.
It includes a session with Gadkari on analysing the initiatives needed to bridge the $1 trillion infrastructure deficit in the country.
Government think-tank body Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant supported the industry demand and called for setting up of a single window clearance system for expeditious approval of projects. Start-ups and small medium enterprises requested the prime minister to provide support in low-cost capital at the virtual launch of space and satellite industry body Indian Space Association (ISpA).
Mukesh Ambani remains the country's wealthiest promoter as his stake in Reliance is now worth Rs 3.25 trillion!
Bharti will move FIPB soon for increasing Axa's stake to 49%
The IPO boom in 2023 added four new promoters to the billionaires' list.
India Inc on Saturday cheered the road map for lowering corporate taxation.
'This solid verdict would further strengthen his resolve to drive forward the economic agenda to ensure that the fruits of the economic momentum continue to reach the poor, so visible during the last five years.'
Bharti Televentures, in association with a Canada-based firm, on Tuesday launched Blackberry handheld devices offering 'always on' connectivity, targeted at high-end customers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India and the United Kingdom are economically made for each other.
Vodafone-Idea (Vi) has said the key hurdle it faces in raising fresh funding, despite interest from investors, is the 'pricing situation' which is also the reason why it has asked the Department of Telecommunica-tions (DoT) for another extension of the moratorium on payment of spectrum instalment by one more year. Responding to a question during an analysts' call on Friday after its quarterly results on the reason for the delay in fund-raising nine months after it was announced, CEO & MD Ravinder Takkar said: "We are in discussions with investors. There is continued interest in investing in the telecom sector in the country. "The biggest hurdle is that the overall industry is under stress because of the pricing situation." He said that once tariffs go up, it will create a significant amount of confidence.
Average data usage on Airtel India network grew about three fold to 2611 megabyte (about 2.5 GB) per customer from 904 MB on YoY basis. But the average revenue from the data services per customer declined by 22.7 per cent during the period.
Trade and economic issues, including visa, totalisation pact and impediments hampering investments, are likely to figure at Monday's US-India CEO Forum meeting, which will be jointly addressed by visiting US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'We always believe that if you focus on the goal, you will overcome all obstacles. If you focus on the obstacles, you will never achieve your goal.'
On the telecom sector, he demanded auctioning of more spectrum.
Tata Steel, others sell assets abroad after taking massive impairments.
The Big Two telecom companies have accelerated their moves towards this next-gen technology, though they have chosen very different routes to getting there.
'The book captures Rana Kapoor's hunger for real estate leading to bungalows in Delhi, Mumbai, London and other cities; the multiple companies -- over 100 -- to fund his family's various ventures; the attempt to game the system by showing lower non-performing assets,' notes Joydeep Ghosh.
The Department of Post, Tech Mahindra, Videocon Group and stock exchange NSE have joined big corporates like Ambanis and Birlas to seek entry into banking business through newly created niche category of Payments and Small Finance Banks.
After a two year run-in with controversies, telecom sector now looks stable and seems back on its feet with initial investment proposal of over Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) received in 2013.
A majority of India's billionaires gained wealth in the last one year in spite of the stock market decline.