Bharti Airtel Promoter Entity Sells Shares for ₹11,227 Cr

Indian Continent Investment Ltd, an entity promoted by billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal & Family, on Friday divested nearly one per cent stake in telecom carrier Bharti Airtel for ₹11,227 crore through open market transactions.

Indian Continent Investment Ltd (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% stake in Bharti Airtel.

The shares were disposed of in the price range of ₹1,870.40-1,871.95 apiece, taking the combined deal value to ₹11,227.05 crore.

After the latest transaction, ICIL's holding in Bharti Airtel has come down to 1.49% from 2.47%. Also, the holding of promoters has reduced to 50.27% from 51.25%.

Meanwhile, Bharti Telecom Ltd remained the largest promoter entity with a 40.47% stake.

Details of the buyers of Bharti Airtel's shares could not be ascertained on the exchange.

Shares of Bharti Airtel fell 3.28% to close at ₹1,859.50 apiece on the NSE.

On Tuesday, Bharti Airtel reported a 43 pc year-on-year increase in its consolidated profit at ₹5,947.9 crore in the first quarter ended June 2025.

The company had posted a profit of ₹4,160 crore in the same period a year ago.

The consolidated revenue from operations of Bharti Airtel increased by 28.4% to ₹49,463 crore during the reporting quarter from ₹38,506.4 crore in the June quarter of the last year, the company said.

Bharti Airtel's India revenue increased by 29% YoY to ₹37,585 crore.

Its average revenue per user (ARPU), a key matrix to determine a telecom operator's growth, in India increased to ₹250 during the quarter under review compared to ₹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% of its direct stake in Bharti Airtel for SGD 2 billion (roughly USD 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% stake to Bharti Telecom and 0.8% 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% shares of the company from the Bharti family's investment firm Indian Continent Investment Ltd for ₹11,680 crore.

In March 2024, Singtel offloaded a 0.8% stake in telecom company Bharti Airtel for ₹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% stake in Bharti Airtel for ₹7,261 crore.

On September 7, 2022, Singtel, through its affiliates -- Pastel and Viridian -- sold a 1.76% stake in Bharti Airtel for about ₹7,128 crore, and Bharti Airtel promoter Bharti Telecom bought a 1.63% stake from Singtel for ₹6,602 crore.