Bharti Airtel shares drop 3% amid reports of promoter stake sale

Shares of Bharti Airtel declined nearly 3% in early trade on Friday amid reports that its promoter entity, Indian Continent Investment, is expected to offload a 0.8% equity stake in the company through a block deal today.

Reacting to the news, Bharti Airtel shares dropped by as much as 2.9% to ₹1,868.70 on the BSE, while its market capitalisation slipped to ₹10.68 lakh crore. The counter witnessed strong volumes, with 1.21 crore shares changing hands compared to the two-week average of 3.24 lakh shares.

Bharti Airtel shares touched a 52-week high of ₹2,045.50 on July 2, 2025, and a 52-week low of ₹1,430 on August 8, 2024. The telecom stock has delivered a positive return of 28% to its shareholders over the past one year, 10% in the last six months, and nearly 17% on a year-to-date basis. However, the stock has declined 8% over the past month.

According to reports, the promoter of Bharti Airtel is set to offload up to 5 crore equity shares worth ₹9,310 crore (approximately $1.06 billion) through a block deal today. The floor price for the deal has been set at ₹1,862 per share.

As per the latest shareholding pattern available on the BSE, promoter Bharti Telecom held a 40.47% stake in the company at the end of the June quarter. Other promoter group entities, Indian Continent Investment and Pastel, held 2.47% and 8.32%, respectively, in Bharti Airtel, .

For the first quarter ended June 30, 2025, Bharti Airtel reported strong performance on account of robust growth in India and a rebound in Africa. The company's Q1FY26 revenue stood at ₹49,463 crore, growing by 28.5% year-on-year (YoY), with India revenues recording 29% YoY growth at ₹37,585 crore, thanks to 21.6% growth in mobile revenues on improved realisations and customer additions. 

Airtel's consolidated net profit for the quarter grew 43% YoY to ₹5,947.9 crore from ₹4,160 crore in Q1FY25.

On the operating front, consolidated EBITDA for Q1FY26 was at ₹28,167 crore with a margin of 56.9%.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) for the quarter stood at ₹250 as compared to ₹211 in Q1FY25, driven by strong momentum in both India and Africa.

Gopal Vittal, Vice Chairman and MD, said the company added 4 million smartphone data customers and maintained an ARPU of ₹250 for Q1FY26. "The underlying growth trajectory remains steady at a sequential growth of 2.0 % with continued improvement in funnel and orderbook. Our digital network across India and Africa now serves over 600 million customers."

Fortifying its leadership in the postpaid segment, with net additions of 0.7 million customers in Q1FY26, Airtel's total customer base stood at 26.6 million. Its share in the smartphone data customers also experienced sustained growth, with an increase of 21.3 million users, an 8.2% YoY rise.

Airtel installed 1.8K additional towers and 7.5K mobile broadband stations in Q1, the company said.

(DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed by investment experts on fortuneindia.com are either their own or of their organisations, but not necessarily that of fortuneindia.com and its editorial team. Readers are advised to consult certified experts before taking investment decisions.)