After investing ₹3.3 lakh crore in digital infrastructure, Bharti Airtel eyes finance, cloud and data centres as next growth engines: Sunil Mittal

Bharti Airtel is pivoting towards financial services, cloud computing and data centres as its next engines of growth after investing more than ₹3.3 lakh crore in building one of India's largest digital infrastructure platforms over the past decade, stated Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.

In his message to shareholders in the company's FY26 annual report, Mittal said Airtel's long-term investments in connectivity have laid the foundation for the next phase of growth, with the telecom major making significant bets on digital financial services, sovereign cloud offerings and data centre infrastructure amid rising demand driven by artificial intelligence (AI), digitalisation and data localisation.

Airtel doubles down on financial services, cloud and data centres

"Over the last few years, we took a calibrated approach to build new growth engines for Airtel. These bold bets yielded strong outcomes and have grown our conviction in three adjacencies where we believe Airtel has a clear right to win — financial services, data centres and Airtel Cloud," Mittal said.

The company has already announced a ₹20,000-crore investment in Airtel Money after the Reserve Bank of India granted the platform approval to operate as a non-deposit taking Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC).

Calling it a "significant milestone", Mittal said the move would support the broader objective of expanding financial inclusion in the country. "Airtel Money will be suitably capitalised over the years," he added.

On the infrastructure front, Airtel's data centre arm Nxtra recently raised $1 billion (around ₹9,500 crore) and remains on track to build 1 gigawatt (GW) of capacity over the next few years to cater to growing demand arising from rapid digitalisation, cloud adoption and stricter data localisation norms.

Mittal also highlighted encouraging traction for Airtel Cloud, the company's sovereign, telco-grade cloud platform, saying it has already secured more than 24 enterprise deals. "Airtel Cloud allows our customers to get access to world-class cloud offerings hosted and held in India and delivered in a cost-effective manner," he said.

Government policy, AI and digital economy to fuel investment cycle

Mittal said supportive government policies around cloud, AI and digital infrastructure are expected to accelerate investments across the ecosystem.

"Building on this momentum, the long-term tax holiday laid out by the Government of India for cloud and AI-led data centre investments is a timely initiative, expected to catalyse sustained capital inflows into digital infrastructure, while assuring the people of India of sovereign, secure data flows," he said.

According to the government, investments in India's data centre sector are expected to cross $200 billion (over ₹18 lakh crore) this year.

Commenting on the broader macroeconomic environment, Mittal said India continues to remain one of the world's fastest-growing large economies despite geopolitical uncertainty and evolving global supply chains. He noted that digitalisation, public digital infrastructure, enterprise transformation and AI-led innovation are becoming central pillars of India's growth story.

"The story of the impact of this tectonic shift to the global landscape cannot be told without India. India's opportunity is unique in scale and pace," he said.

5G adoption strengthens balance sheet and future growth

Mittal said the emergence of the 5G economy is unlocking new use cases across industries through high-speed, low-latency connectivity. Airtel's 5G customer base has grown to 188 million, while its 5G Plus network now carries nearly half of the company's wireless data traffic.

He also highlighted Airtel's improving financial position, noting that consolidated operating free cash flow (EBITDAaL minus capex) crossed a record ₹60,400 crore in FY26, while the company's net debt-to-EBITDA ratio improved by another 0.6 times during the year.

Reflecting the stronger balance sheet, Airtel's board has recommended a dividend of ₹24 per share for FY26, representing a 50% increase over the previous year, in line with the company's strategy of progressively increasing shareholder payouts while continuing to invest in its core business and future growth platforms.