Bharti Airtel names Shashwant Sharma as MD & CEO, Gopal Vittal as executive VC

Billionaire Sunil Mittal-led telecom behemoth Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced a slew of changes to its top management. Gopal Vittal, who led the company as managing director and chief executive office (MD & CEO) for the last 13 years has been appointed as the executive vice chairman, while the current CEO-designate Shashwat Sharma, will be appointed as the MD & CEO for a period of five years.

Additionally, in its press release dated December 18, 2025, the company has also announced the appointment of chief financial officer (CFO) Soumen Ray as Group CFO, and Akhil Garg as the CFO and key managerial personnel (KMP) of the company. Rohit Puri, currently joint company secretary & compliance officer, will be appointed as company secretary & compliance officer for Bharti Airtel. Pankaj Tewari, who is the group company secretary, will continue to provide leadership and oversight at a group level, the statement said.

All appointments are effective January 1, 2026.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman, Bharti Airtel said, "I am extremely pleased with the succession and transition of leadership at Airtel and there could not have been a better time, where change and continuity will go hand in hand. I have no doubt both Gopal and Shashwat will continue to build on the momentum and I wish them much success in their roles."

"As an organization we pride ourselves with our highly energised and professional management team, which combined with our entrepreneurial flair, brings to hundreds of millions of customers, the best technology and services across the geographies we operate. I look forward to working alongside Gopal and the team to continue this pursuit as we drive towards our ambition of building the best global telecom company," Mittal added.

Amendments to shareholders' agreement

In a separate exchange filing, Bharti Airtel has informed that the existing shareholders' agreement dated January 22, 2009, between the company (Bharti) and Pastel Limited (Singtel), part of promoter group of Bharti, will be amended based on mutual agreement between both the parties.

"Bharti and Singtel have mutually agreed to amend the existing Shareholders’ Agreement to better align with the business requirements and contemporary governance standards," the company said. Key changes are as follows:

• Singtel has relinquished several key reserved rights

• Other changes include removing redundancy and making necessary revisions for the sake of clarity and governance

"The proposed changes reflect the evolving maturity of the relationship and a shared commitment to focus on Airtel’s growth, while respecting the governance obligations of both parties," the company said.

The shares of Bharti Airtel ended 0.46% lower at ₹2,098.30 on the national stock exchange today. The company's stock has surged nearly 13% in the past six months as against the benchmark Nifty 50 index which has risen nearly 4% during the same period.