Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom provider, witnessed its shares decline nearly 4% in intraday trade on Tuesday, February 24, touching the day’s low of ₹1,921 apiece. The stock was last seen around these levels in early February. The fall also marks its steepest intraday decline in three months.
Investors reacted negatively to the company’s proposal to strengthen its Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC), Airtel Money Limited, through substantial capital infusion.
On Monday, the company announced significant plans for Airtel Money, stating that it will capitalise the NBFC subsidiary with ₹20,000 crore to be infused over the next few years, with 70% of the equity contribution coming from Bharti Airtel and the remaining 30% from the promoter group.
This announcement came weeks after the company secured an NBFC licence from the Reserve Bank of India on February 13. The company further said that it will leverage the large Airtel customer base to build the next growth engine for the company and further diversify its portfolio.
The NBFC has already achieved hyperscale adoption with over ₹9,000 crore in disbursements, and Airtel aims to rapidly expand access to simple, secure, and innovative digital financial services across India.
“The disbursement journey of the NBFC will be seamlessly integrated with the LSP platform while maintaining clear operational segregation between the two, giving customers a best-in-class experience. By combining technology, data, and customer understanding at scale, Airtel aims to set a new benchmark for digital financial services in India,” the company said in its regulatory filing.
Bharti Airtel Q3 results 2026
Bharti Airtel earlier this month reported strong revenue and operating performance in the October-December quarter, even as its net profit fell significantly due to one-off factors and an exceptional gain in the year-ago period.
It reported a 55% year-on-year (y-o-y) fall in its net profit to ₹6,631 crore. Sequentially, it fell 2.4% in Q3 from ₹6,791.7 crore in the preceding quarter. Its revenue in the quarter was up 19.6% y-o-y and 3.5% sequentially at ₹53,982 crore.
The drop in profit could be attributed largely to a high base in the year-ago period, when the company reported a net exceptional gain of ₹7,546 crore following the reclassification of Indus Towers from an associate company to its subsidiary, while also increasing the provision for gratuity and compensated absences amounting to ₹257 crore.
Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel has increased the gap in ARPU with Reliance Jio. During the quarter, Airtel’s ARPU rose 1.2% sequentially to ₹259 a month, driven by growth in data consumption and consumer upgrades.
Bharti Airtel share price trend
The company’s shares began 2026 on a weak note, falling 6.50% in January after delivering a seventh consecutive year of positive performance in 2025. The stock, after hitting a record high of ₹2,174 in late November, lost its momentum and earlier this month dropped to the ₹1,900 level before gathering strength.
In the current year so far, the stock is down by 7.86%; however, its long-term performance still remains intact. Cumulatively, the stock has delivered a robust 154% return to investors over the last three years, and in the last five years, it has given 243%, turning investors’ portfolios wealthier.
The rally has propelled the company’s market cap to cross the ₹12 lakh crore mark
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