Bharti Airtel promoter entity sells shares for Rs 11,227 cr
New Delhi: Indian Continent Investment Ltd (ICIL), an entity promoted by billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal & Family, on Friday divested nearly one per cent stake in telecom carrier Bharti Airtel for Rs 11,227 crore through open market transactions.
ICIL is one of the promoters of Gurugram-based Bharti Airtel. According to the bulk deal data available on the NSE, Indian Continent Investment Ltd offloaded a total of 6 crore equity shares in two tranches or a 0.98 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel. The shares were disposed of in the price range of Rs 1,870.40-1,871.95 apiece, taking the combined deal value to Rs 11,227.05 crore.
After the latest transaction, ICIL’s holding in Bharti Airtel has come down to 1.49 per cent from 2.47 per cent. Also, the holding of promoters has reduced to 50.27 per cent from 51.25 per cent. Meanwhile, Bharti Telecom Ltd remained the largest promoter entity with a 40.47 per cent stake.
Details of the buyers of Bharti Airtel’s shares could not be ascertained on the exchange.
Shares of Bharti Airtel fell 3.28 per cent to close at Rs 1,859.50 apiece on the NSE.
On Tuesday, Bharti Airtel reported a 43 pc year-on-year increase in its consolidated profit at Rs 5,947.9 crore in the first quarter ended June 2025.
The company had posted a profit of Rs 4,160 crore in the same period a year ago.
The consolidated revenue from operations of Bharti Airtel increased by 28.4 per cent to Rs 49,463 crore during the reporting quarter from Rs 38,506.4 crore in the June quarter of the last year, the company said.
Bharti Airtel’s India revenue increased by 29 per cent YoY to Rs 37,585 crore. Its average revenue per user (ARPU), a key matrix to determine a
telecom operator’s growth, in India increased to Rs 250
during the quarter under
review compared to Rs 211 in the same period a year ago.
In May this year, Singtel, one of the promoters of Airtel, said it has sold about 1.2 per cent of its direct stake in Bharti Airtel for SGD 2 billion (roughly $1.5 billion) in sync with its active capital management approach to optimise its asset portfolio and drive shareholder returns.
In 2022 and 2024, Singtel raised a total of about SGD 3.5 billion from the progressive sale of Airtel shares — a 3.3 per cent stake to Bharti Telecom and 0.8 per cent direct stake to GQG Partners.
This has helped to support the Group’s 5G deployment, digital infrastructure expansion and sustainable shareholder distributions, Singtel said.
In November 2024, Bharti Airtel’s promoter Bharti Telecom has purchased around 1.2 per cent shares of the company from the Bharti family’s investment firm Indian Continent Investment Ltd for Rs 11,680 crore. In March 2024, Singtel offloaded a 0.8 per cent stake in telecom company Bharti Airtel for Rs 5,849 crore to NRI Rajiv Jain-backed GQG Partners and other investors. Prior to that, Singtel’s unit Pastel on September 22, 2022, divested a 1.59 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel for Rs 7,261 crore.
On September 7, 2022, Singtel, through its affiliates — Pastel and Viridian — sold a 1.76 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel for about Rs 7,128 crore, and Bharti Airtel promoter Bharti Telecom bought a 1.63 per cent stake from Singtel for Rs 6,602 crore.
